DUSHANBE, March 25 2013, Asia-Plus – A roundtable entitled “The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and Regional Security in Central Asia” is taking place in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on March 26.
Organized by the CSTO Secretariat and Kyrgyzstan’s MFA and Security Council, the event will bring together political scientists and experts from the CSTO member nations and heads of the information analysis departments that are members of the CSTO Analytical Association, the CSTO Secretariat said.
The meeting is expected to discuss the current situation in Central Asia and determine possible threats in the context of the withdrawal of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops from Afghanistan as well as recommendations on the possible practical measures to address those threats.
The CSTO Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha will deliver a statement at the meeting.
We will recall that the first meeting of the CSTO Analytical Association took place in Moscow on March 11 this year. A memorandum on the establishment of the CSTO Analytical Association, in particular, states that the Association is created to enhance the practical information and analysis of interaction and information and analytical capabilities of the CSTO. The CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha is Chairman of the Board of the Analytical Association.
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.
