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A meeting of foreign ministers of the member-states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
took place in the President Hotel in Moscow on the 9th of December.
The members of the CSTO are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The main aim of the CSTO is political and military integration.
Officially, the member-states do not consider anyone as enemies
and advocate mutually beneficial cooperation with all states.
Moreover, the CSTO is open to other states if they wish to join and share its principles and tasks.
The red line of the meeting was the intention to continue mutual cooperation
between the member states of the organization regarding ensuring stability and safety in the region.
Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation:
Todays meeting of the council of Foreign Ministers, Defense Ministers
and the committee of the secretaries of the Security Council is part of the preparations for a regular meeting of the CSTO.
During Russia's presidency of the CSTO, starting with the summit in June of last year,
we have been concentrating our efforts on the priorities of mutual cooperation between the heads of states,
meaning the coordination of external policy, further development of collective response forces,
completion of peacekeeping forces formation and technical and economic cooperation in the military sphere.
All these questions were discussed during the informal meetings of the heads of state in July the previous year in Cholpon-Ata,
in May this year in Moscow, in August in Yerevan, at the meeting of the Foreign Ministers in March,
at the ministerial meetings in Athens, in New York and in Astana,
and they were at the center of all the bodies of the CSTO.
Every meeting of our organization has given serious impulse to the further development of our inter-allied cooperation
and the current session has particular significance in this respect,
as it is aimed at a fundamental reorganization of the functions of the organization
regarding the security of the interests of the member countries.
The most important topic of this meeting, the Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov underlined,
is the introduction of changes in order to advance effectiveness in the sphere of emergency actions of the organization.
Moreover, he added, a document regarding the mutual cooperation of the CSTO
on the international scene was approved,
which is a direct contribution to the work of the organization in accomplishing foreign policy tasks.
The third topic focuses on peacekeeping forces,
and one notes here the readiness to accomplish tasks regarding peacekeeping actions,
as well as the readiness to supply peacekeeping forces at the request of the CSTO,
said the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Lavrov.
The agenda of the CSTO summit touched upon more than thirty questions.
The central topics, as expected, were the mechanisms of the recessionary reaction of the CSTO;
expansion of the organizations potential for effective resistance to the present security threats and challenges;
reviewing economic and technical cooperation in the military sphere; military construction;
rationalization of the response bodies' work in the sphere of information security
and a range of organizational, administrative and financial matters in the work of the organization.
In the same context proposals were discussed to define the charter documents
and the legislative basis of the organization.
The leaders of the CSTO have managed to negotiate approval of all the issues.
The Moscow summit resulted in coordinating all the questions and preparing a number of projects,
particularly in expansion of the organizations potential for effective response actions and peacekeeping initiatives.
Summarizing the results of the summit of the foreign ministers
and the committee of the secretaries of the Security Council,
the head of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov has spoke about the summit.
During the summit a new document was presented to the participants:
'Regulation of the response actions to critical situations of the CSTO'.
This document regulates the mechanism of work of the constantly-active bodies
and provides a framework for urgent consultations
and decision-making on measures concerning prevention of critical situations.
The Russian Duma ratified the 'Regulation on the response actions to the critical situations of the CSTO' on Wednesday.
According to the specialist committee on the CIS,
the response forces to critical situations will be formed from the special operation forces allocated by the member countries,
which will be provided with modern military equipment and technology,
according to the requirements, coordinated with the member states.
The deputies based their decision on observing certain difficulties in the CSTO military and political spheres,
as well as an increase of the potential for conflict in areas adjacent to Russia.
Among the problematic territories mentioned are the borderline of Kirgizia, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
Specific information considering the status and the percentage of the countries forces in the common contingent
will be presented after discussing them with the Security Council of the CSTO on the 10th of December.
At the present summit, Russia will hand the presidency of the CSTO over to Belarus.