DUSAHNBE, September 24, Asia-Plus — A session of the Commission for Defense and Security Matters of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization opened in Yerevan, Armenia on September 24.
Referring to press service of the Armenian parliament, some media reported that dozens of issue had been tables to the session’s agenda.
On sidelines of the session, the Commission members will meet with the Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Oganyan. On September 25, the commission members will continue work at the Artashat border.
The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year. A 1994 treaty “reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force,” and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan joined the Organization in 2006.
