CSTO Collective Security Council session

Belarus took over the Presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) from Armenia. Belarus will further develop the priorities of the Belarusian Presidency in the CSTO and will communicate them to the CSTO member states, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Yerevan on 14 October.

During lengthy restricted-attendance negotiations of the CSTO leaders the sides had discussed a large number of topics and had analyzed outstanding problems on the international agenda. “Along all the borders — the western direction, in Central Asia, and in the area of Afghanistan. We discussed conflicts and unresolved problems,” the Belarusian leader noted. “I have to admit that the prepared materials concerning priorities of our presidency are slightly subpar in comparison with the level of discussion we have managed to reach privately.”

According to the Belarus President, the sides agreed that a group of military specialists and specialists from other fields will be set up with assistance of CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha. “We will draw specialists primarily from the Russian Federation and other countries. We need to come up with good priorities in order to allow our organization to reach quite a serious level. We don’t want the organization to be feared but respected. We don’t want to beg for anyone’s recognition,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

Priorities of Belarus’ forthcoming presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be thoroughly elaborated and forwarded to the CSTO heads of state, added the Belarusian leader. “I think we will be able to offer something good to our organization with regard to unity and respect from counterparts,” Aleksandr Lukashenko concluded.

“All of us have stated that nobody wants to recognize the CSTO, particularly NATO. It seems we are not the right sort. I was listening to this talk, thinking that they will never recognize us if we beg for their recognition. We have to force them to recognize our organization,” the President of Belarus said.

At the end of the summit the heads of state approved the CSTO Collective Security Strategy for the period till 2025. The sides signed a package of documents to counteract international terrorism and extremism, passed a number of statements concerning topical international issues and the operation of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.