Offline sessions of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (SCTO) Council of Defense Ministers Council and the Committee of Security Council Secretaries will take place in Dushanbe on April 27 and April 29.
Tajikistan has taken the rotating chairmanship of the Organization, and the CSTO defense minister’s session will presided over by Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Mirzo and the CSTO security council secretaries’ session will be presided over by Tajik Security Council Secretary Nasrullo Mahmoudzoda.
According to BelTA, issues related to providing military security and addressing challenges and threats will be discussed.
The CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas will participate and will present information about the situation in the Organization's area of responsibility and about the items on the agenda.
Plans to equip the CSTO collective rapid response forces as well as plans for the joint training of the collective security system forces and assets will be discussed. A schedule of consultations about foreign policy, defense, and security in H2 2021 – H1 2022 will be discussed. A plan of actions timed to the 30th anniversary since the Collective Security Treaty was signed and the 20th anniversary since the Collective Security Treaty Organization was established is also on the agenda.
Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon is expected to meet with the defense ministers and the security council secretaries before the sessions.
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.
