DUSHANBE, October 16, 2015, Asia-Plus — The leaders of member nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have signed a statement on combating international terrorism and an agreement on military cooperation through 2020.
These two documents were signed among 14 others at a summit of CIS leaders — representing Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — on October 16 in the Kazakh resort village of Burabay.
Representatives of Moldova, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine participated in the summit as observers.
According to Russian news agency
TASS
, the sides approved a decision to set up a group of border and other agencies for resolving the crises on the external borders and also a program of cooperation for strengthening security on the external borders for 2016-2020.
Several other documents focus on the cooperation in the law enforcement sphere. An agreement on cooperation in the sphere of preventing and eliminating emergency situations was also signed.
The leaders have approved candidates for the head of the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center and the chair of the coordination committee for air defense of the Council of CIS defense ministers.
At a press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin said closer military cooperation is necessary because “the situation [in Afghanistan] is close to becoming critical.”
He added that one of the goals of Islamist terrorists in Afghanistan is “to penetrate the Central Asian region.”
The agreement on military cooperation, he said, will furnish a “coordinated response” to that threat.
Putin also praised the CIS as a mechanism for members to address problems caused by “negative external actors,” such as “uncertainty in the global economy and rising political tensions.”
The next meeting of the Council of CIS heads of state is due to take place in September 2016 in Kyrgyzstan, which will take over the presidency of the CIS from Kazakhstan.
Established on December 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization. It now consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.
