YEREVAN, March 12 (Itar-Tass) —— Armenia plans to increase the role of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) as a key element of its national defence, Security Council Secretary Artur Bagdasaryan said.
“We plan to increase the role of the CSTO as one of the key elements of Armenia’s security. The CSTO is evolving, and Armenia, as one of the most active members of the organisation, is actively involved in this process,” he said at a meeting of the officials from Armenian interested ministries and agencies and the CSTO Secretariat on Monday, March 12, which focused on draft new documents of this organisation.
According to Bagdasaryan, “a new strategy and a new CSTO planning concept are being drafted, which makes it possible to increase the role, weight and importance of this international organisation for ensuring the security of its member states.”
These documents will be submitted to the organisation’s Collective Security Council shortly.
Armenia will host a large-scale CSTO rapid reaction force exercise this year to show the capability of the Armed Forces, secret services, emergencies ministries, and police, and the high level of their interoperability among the 7 CSTO member states,” Bagdasaryan said.
According to Collective Security Treaty Organisation Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha, the “security of the CSTO member states, including Armenia’s, is several times higher than a couple of years ago”.
“A new CSTO strategy reflecting the current geopolitical situation is very important and will provide the basis for our further activities,” he said.
Armenia is the first country to discuss a new strategy and a new planning concept of the organisation. These documents will also be considered by the CSTO Committee of National Security Council Secretaries, Council of Defence Ministers and Council of Foreign Ministers, and then submitted to the Collective Security Council.
The CSTO is a military-political alliance of seven countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It was created on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty of the May 15, 1992, which was turned into an international organisation on May 14, 2002. The CSTO received the status of observer at the U.N. General Assembly on December 2, 2004.
The purpose of the CSTO is to guarantee the national security of each of its members and to ensure their territorial integrity. In case of a menace, looming over any member-country, all the other CSTO participants will be duty-bound to give it all the necessary aid, including military assistance.