MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/. Members of the Moscow-led post-Soviet security bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), discussed the organization’s participation in UN peacekeeping efforts and the situation in Afghanistan, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
Envoys of CSTO member states, heads of relevant departments at national foreign ministries, embassy staff and officials of the CSTO secretariat met in Moscow for consultations to discuss the agenda of the 74th UN General Assembly session.
"The participants unanimously spoke in favor of strengthening the consolidated line of CSTO member states at the UN, aimed at sealing the central and coordinating role of the United Nations in global affairs, ensuring the principles of indivisible security, sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and non-interference into other states’ domestic affairs," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Special attention was paid to issues of practical cooperation among CSTO delegations and their priorities for the 74th UN General Assembly."
"The participants also considered possibilities of CSTO participation in UN peacekeeping operations, the world organization’s efforts in anti-terrorism, disarmament and arms control, human rights, the situation in Afghanistan and other important issues on the UN agenda," the statement reads. "Preparations of joint statements by CSTO member states, expected to be adopted during the forthcoming UN General Assembly session, were also discussed."
According to the ministry, in discussing those matters the participants were guided by a UN General Assembly resolution on cooperation between UN and CSTO, which, among other things reaffirms the CSTO member states' commitment to tasks and goals of the global organization.
The consultations "confirmed a high degree of convergence in member states’ approaches, mutual respect to national priorities and interest in developing partnership on numerous issues of mutual concern on the UN agenda," the statement says.
"Practical proposals to enhance coordination within the CSTO framework on the UN platform have been put forward," the ministry said.
The collective security treaty was signed on May 15, 1992 in Tashkent, and the agreement on the establishment of the Collective Security Treaty Organization was inked on October 7, 2002. As of now, the organization includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.