The session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was held in Bishkek.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbay Jeenbekov, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, as well as Acting Secretary General of the CSTO Valery Semerikov have had a meeting in a narrow format, then the their talks were continued with the members of delegations.
The Heads of state exchanged views on international and regional security, summed up the implementation of the organization's priority activities in the past year, and outlined plans for the coming period.
Within the meeting in a narrow format Kassym-Jomart Tokayev informed his colleagues about Kazakhstan’s position on pressing issues of interaction of the participating states.
“We intend to develop political cooperation within the framework of the CSTO, strengthen the military-power potential of the Organization and counteract modern challenges and threats,” the President stressed.
Noting the need to increase the political dialogue in international security, the Head of State focused on the responsibility of the CSTO for ensuring the security of the territory located in the center of Eurasia. In his opinion, the Organization could take a more active position, linking Europe and Asia into a single Eurasian security platform.
To achieve this goal, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed to consider a number of tasks. In particular, he pointed to the need to work over the CSTO’s international reputation.
“We are not opposed to anyone, but on the contrary – we are ready for a mutually beneficial dialogue. It is important to promote this principle,” the President of Kazakhstan said.
In this context, the Head of State recalled the importance of the Open appeal of the CSTP’s foreign ministers member states to NATO counter-partners adopted in May early this year, which concerned the strengthening of mutual trust and the development of cooperation.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted the importance of further development of Partner and Observer institutions under the CSTO. The decision to establish these institutions was made last year in Kazakhstan’s capital. In his opinion, the first results of the activities of these institutions are already visible.
The President also called for increasing the expert-dialogue infrastructure around the CSTO. According to President Tokayev, it is advisable to think about organizing an international conference at the ministerial level, security councils’ secretaries, major experts and foreign guests within the framework of one of the next sessions of the Collective Security Council.
As an example, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev cited the Munich Conference, which, in his opinion, was originally conceived as an informal meeting of representatives of the defense departments of NATO countries, and nowadays is an influential forum for discussing the most pressing security problems in Europe.
In his speech, Kazakhstan’s President also touched upon the issue of countering terrorism in the CSTO area of responsibility, in particular, in Afghanistan.
“At the moment, the official authorities control only a little more than half of the country's territory, which is home to 65% of the population. The rest of Afghanistan is under the control of terrorist organizations. Having such a source of threats from the south, it is extremely necessary for the CSTO to keep in tone the forces and means to combat international terrorism and other threats,” the President of Kazakhstan stressed.
The Head of State informed the Summit participants on the outcomes of the “Jusan” special humanitarian operation, during which Kazakhstan’s relevant agencies evacuated 595 of our citizens from Syria, including more than 400 children. The President said that just the day before a group of children had been evacuated from Iraq back to Kazakhstan.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also drew attention to the issues of combating drug trafficking and strengthening cooperation in information and cybersecurity.
Concluding his speech, the Head of the Kazakh delegation thanked Sooronbay Jeenbekov for the serious successes of the Kyrgyz presidency in the CSTO, and congratulated his Russian colleagues, who took over the chairmanship of the Organization.
At the Summit, the leaders of the CSTO member states adopted a Political Statement on improving international cooperation and cooperation in order to strengthen global and regional security.
The documents adopted in Bishkek are aimed at further development of cooperation within the framework of the CSTO. It demonstrates the openness of the Organization and its positive attitude towards expanding cooperation with other countries and international structures.
Following the CSTO’s session of the Collective Security Council 17 documents were signed, including a Statement on improving international cooperation and cooperation in order to strengthen global and regional security, as well as 14 decisions of the Collective Security Council.
