CIS States Push on to Strengthen Collective SecurityThe presidents of six member countries of the CIS Collective Security Council decided Wednesday in Belarus capital of Minsk to unite their efforts to strengthen regional security and anti-terrorism cooperation.At a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members that signed the Collective Security Treaty, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Armenia, the participants expressed concern over situation in Central Asia and the Caucasus. "Serious tasks must be fulfilled by the signatories to the treaty to eliminate the persisting danger of further tensions in these regions," urged the leaders. The sides discussed not only cooperation in defense and counter- terrorist fields, but also ways of adjusting the Collective Security Treaty to the new geopolitical situation. Earlier, they drafted a memorandum on enhancing the efficiency of the treaty, a provision on the procedure of making and implementing collective decisions on the use of force and collective security system means, as well as a provision on the Council of Defense Ministers. The meeting once again demonstrated that the treaty is very important and meets the security interests of the member-states, the participants said. "New hotbeds of tensions have flared up, including near the borders of the member-states. The threat of international terrorism has sharply increased and terrorism has merged with aggressive separatism, religious intolerance and organized crime," the participants noted. They vowed to make joint efforts to ensure collective security and stated that the treaty remains open for all countries concerned. Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced that he is extremely satisfied with the results of the summit, which has just finished in Minsk. The participants have developed a mechanism "that will make the Collective Security treaty a working instrument responsive to the changing world and developments related to our countries," he told journalists after the meeting. He underscored the importance of the joint statement adopted by the summit on the initiative of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, which says the treaty has priority significance in ensuring the signatory-states' national security. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, host of the summit, said the amorphous period in the history of the Collective Security Treaty is over. The goal of the session is to promote cooperation among the states "not only in theory, but in implementing the military-technical policy, which is expected to help them prevent and ward off possible threats," he said. To this end, an agreement on the basic principles of military-technical cooperation among the Collective Security Treaty signatory-states is to be signed in Moscow on June 22 Lukashenko said. In the current geopolitical situation, "certain forces are trying to redraw the borders and create a uni-polar world." The signatory states must be particularly vigilant and security-minded in this context, he added. Putin ended his two-day working visit in Minsk and returned to Moscow on Wednesday evening. |
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