CSTO Heads of State to meet in Astana in 2018
"Our session is held in the year that marks Anniversary of our organization. In this respect, I would like to congratulate you on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty signing and the 15th Anniversary of the Organization. In a private session, as Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko] said, we gave careful consideration to the current world situation, and outlined the actions to strengthen the collective security, discussed the agenda, and expressed consent about all the documents [we] prepared. Kazakhstan supports and is ready to sign the Anniversary Declaration that specifies our joint achievements over the past period, as well as the Organization's point of view on the current security issues. Today, we will adopt the Information Security Agreement we thoroughly discussed. The Kazakh side fully supports all other documents included into this session agenda, and my understanding is that all Members of the Organization also support them," Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan thanked the Belarusian side for the successful CSTO Chairmanship in the past period. The Head of State also expressed gratitude for the Organization Members' decision to entitle Kazakhstan to chair the CSTO in 2018. In view of this, the President voiced five priorities.
"The first is expanding the tools of the military interaction between the CSTO Member States. The second is organizing the practical military-technical cooperation of the CSTO Member States. The third is the CSTO's involvement in shaping the international counter-terrorism system. The fourth is the joint methods of the CSTO Member States' response to cybersecurity threats. The fifth is improving the effectiveness of the measures for combating the illegal drug trafficking. We express hope that our proposals will meet with the appropriate support from all Member States of the Organization, ensuring the successful implementation jointly with you," Nursultan Nazarbayev underlined.
The President's proposal to hold the next session of the Collective Security Council in Astana in the second half of 2018 was supported by the participants of the session.
It is noteworthy that a number of documents have been signed today within the session. These include the Declaration to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 15th Anniversary of the CSTO, joint statements of the Organization Member States on the situation in Syria and around it, on support of the mediation efforts of co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and on joint efforts to strengthen the defense potential of the CSTO Member States. Besides, the presidents signed the Agreement on the information security cooperation between the Member States of the Organization. They also reached agreements on several organizational issues.