DUSHANBE, September 19, 2013, Asia-Plus — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon will participate in a Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit that will take place in Sochi, Russia on September 23.
The meeting participants will consider a package of documents related to the military development for the period up to 2020, a well-informed source said.
The military development reportedly includes creation of air forces and the CSTO collective force management.
The meeting participants will also discuss the current situation on the Tajik-Afghan border and the issue of providing military and technical support to Tajik border guards,” the source added.
While in Sochi, Tajik leader is expected to hold talks with his CSTO counterparts.
The regional security organization was initially set up in 1992 in a meeting in Tashkent and Uzbekistan once already suspended its membership in 1999. However, Tashkent returned to the CSTO again in 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 1999 returned to the CSTO again in 2006 after it came under international criticism for its brutal crackdown of antigovernment demonstrations in the eastern city of Andijon in May 2005. On June 28, 2012, Uzbekistan announced that it has suspended its membership of the CSTO, saying the organization ignores Uzbekistan and does not consider its views. The CSTO is currently an observer organization at the United Nations General Assembly.
