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UN, CSTO agrees to expand cooperation in peacekeeping operations

The document was signed Friday by the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations

UNITED NATIONS, September 29 (Itar-Tass) – Secretariat of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization /CSTO/ and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations /DPKO/ have signed a memorandum of cooperation in the field of conflict prevention and peacekeeping activity.

The document was signed Friday by the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Herve Ladsous.

The memorandum states the intention of the sides to facilitate the expansion of and active cooperation in peacekeeping activity, including the stimulation of the CSTO member-states’ contributions to the UN peacekeeping missions and the consolidation of joint efforts in training the peacekeepers contingents of CSTO member-states.

The two organizations also agreed to hold joint functions pertaining to the peacekeeping activity, as well as consultations and exchanges of documents, recommendations, and experience, for the purpose of which they will appoint special officials who will ensure smooth and efficient communications.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who took the floor at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly Friday, hailed the signing of the memorandum.

“On the whole, we support the development of closer relations between the UN and regional organizations,” he said. “I feel confident this will help make the general efforts to ensure stability and security more efficient.”

The CSTO member-states are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan suspended its participation in the Collective Security Treaty format in June 2012.

Thursday, Foreign Ministers of the organization’s member-states had a working conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. They discussed some issues on the agenda of the General Assembly, including the ones that have a priority for the CSTO like compliance with the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, the situation in Afghanistan, and the plans for cooperation between the CSTO and the UN.