23/12/2014 20:55
Armenian president attends CSTO Collective Security Council session
During his working visit to Russia, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan attended the session of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), according to the presidential press service.
At first, talks in a narrow format took place – with the participation of Presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and CSTO Secretary General. Then an enlarged meeting was held, with the participation of the delegations.
A number of documents, including a statement of CSTO member states, were signed at the plenary session of the CSTO Collective Security Council.
In his speech delivered at the session, Serzh Sargsyan said that in the period between the sessions, important work was done within the framework of CSTO to ensure further development and improvement of political cooperation, deepen military and military-technical cooperation, and counteract modern challenges and threats. In this connection the Armenian president underlined the work done by the CSTO Secretariat and thanked the CSTO Secretary General.
In his speech, the Armenian president informed the colleagues about the situation in the South Caucasus, in particular the incidents that happened this year on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the Line of Contact. He stressed that Armenia considers it unacceptable to escalate the tension over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and militarize the region.
“The documents we adopted today are aimed at a collective and coordinated response to the challenges and the existing problems. I am sure that they will help develop the CSTO for the good of our countries and our peoples, on the terms based on the collective principles of security and peace.
We act on the premise that adoption of decisions on the further strengthening of the mechanism of foreign-policy coordination will also enhance the authority of our Organization.
I think the creation of the Collective Air Forces is quite a timely measure to develop military cooperation of CSTO member states. I would also like to indicate the importance of the measures aimed at promoting military-technical cooperation of our states.
I am sure that the package of documents on information security will considerably boost cooperation of the relevant structures of our states in this sphere,” President Sargsyan said in particular.
He also stated that cooperation within the CSTO framework is a key priority of Armenia’s foreign policy and the republic is prepared to actively cooperate with the partners with the aim of ensuring the provisions of the Collective Security Treaty. Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that it is a common position of the CSTO member states.