DUSHANBE, March 6, 2013, Asia-Plus — On Wednesday March 6, the Majlisi Namoyandagon ratified two documents on cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) — the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Advertising and Exhibition Activities in the Sphere of Military-Economic Cooperation between the CSTO Member Nations and the Protocol of Amendments to the Agreement on Creation of the Unified System of Technical Protection of Railways of the CSTO Member Nations.
Speaking at the session, Deputy Minister of Defense, Suhrob Mahmadov, noted that the agreement on cooperation in the field of advertising and exhibition activities provided for expansion of cooperation between the defense enterprises with regard to joint production, protection of classified information, etc.
The Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Advertising and Exhibition Activities in the Sphere of Military-Economic Cooperation was signed in Dushanbe in October 2007.
The Protocol of Amendments to the Agreement on Creation of the Unified System of Technical Protection of Railways of the CSTO Member Nations entrusts the Russian Federation with the task of ensuring technical protection of railways of the CSTO member nations, Mahmadov noted.
The protocol was signed in Minsk, Belarus in June 2006.
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 that suspended its membership in the organization in 1999 returned to the CSTO in 2006 it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. Uzbekistan announced on June 28, 2012 that it has suspended its membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
