Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev sums up Kazakhstan’s CSTO presidency

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev has summarized the presidency of Kazakhstan in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Kazinform correspondent reports.

"Kazakhstan considers the CSTO to be a highly-respected and efficient structure. With an active and comprehensive support from the member states of the Organization, Kazakhstan's priorities in this year's presidency have been successfully accomplished," Nursultan Nazarbayev said at the extended-format meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council session in Astana.

First, as Nursultan Nazarbayev emphasized, in the military sphere, the reforming of the CSTO Joint Staff has been completed as scheduled.

"The preparation for the full-fledged functioning of the CSTO Crisis Response Center, which is intended to expand the capacity of identifying potential threats to our security, is being completed. The Combat Brotherhood 2018 exercise involving a unit of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces and the CSTO Peacekeeping Battalion was held in Kyrgyzstan," the President clarified.

Secondly, the Coordinating Council for the Standardization of Weapons and Military Equipment was established during the meeting of the CSTO Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Economic Cooperation hosted by Almaty.

"Deputy Chairman of the Government of Russia Yury Borisov has been appointed as the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Economic Cooperation. In this regard, we hope for the intensification of production cooperation between the defense enterprises of our countries," the President expressed hope.

In addition, Nursultan Nazarbayev said that the joint work in the field of countering today's cyber threats continues. The Regulations on information interaction to increase efficiency, coordination, and response to computer incidents were adopted in Astana this year.

Meanwhile, the CSTO has focused on the fight against drug trafficking. The Kazakh President said that two operations "Channel" have been carried out over the past period.

"In addition, the international anti-drug operation ‘Channel-Red Barkhan' was conducted in southern Kazakhstan within the framework of it. The course of the operation was monitored by representatives of Iran, China, the OSCE, the Eurasian Group on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Interpol, CARICC, and other organizations," the Head of State concluded.