MOSCOW, 9 February (BelTA) - For the 20 years, the CSTO has grown from a defensive alliance into a modern multifunctional organization, Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Aleinik said in his address to the participants of the conference "Collective Security in a New Era: Experience and Prospects of the CSTO" organized by the Valdai International Discussion Club with the support of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow on 9 February, BelTA has learned.
The address was read out by Belarus' Permanent and Plenipotentiary Representative to the CSTO Vyacheslav Remenchik."Over the past 20 years since the founding of the CSTO, the organization has come a long and very difficult way to transform from a defensive union to a modern multifunctional security organization that has real tools and collective mechanisms to combat a wide range of modern challenges and threats and a powerful collective potential for progressive development and improvement in all areas of activity," Sergei Aleinik stated.
He is convinced that global turbulence and instability, conflicts and crises both in the CATO zone of responsibility and along the borders of its member states call to strengthen the organization, to improve mechanisms to respond, adequately and effectively, to modern challenges and threats. "In the political dimension, there is a need to continuously strengthen the international authority of the CSTO, to advance cooperation with international organizations such as the UN, OSCE, CIS and the SCO in the areas of mutual interest,” Sergei Aleinik said. “Particular attention should be paid to the development of the institutions of the observer states and partner states at the CSTO to improve the system of external relations of the CSTO and to beef up its capabilities to strengthen international and regional security. At the same time, the CSTO also needs to develop the mechanisms of public diplomacy and permanently develop permanent public institutions. "
“Along with the development of the organization's political dimension, its main task remains the same, namely to reinforce the system of response to crises in the zone of collective security of the CSTO that are created both through external and internal factors,” the deputy foreign minister said.
In his words, further improvement of the CSTO troops (collective forces) readiness and expansion of their operational, combat and technical capabilities, including those for counter-terrorist and peacekeeping operations, remains an unchanged priority. “Along with the improvement of counter-terrorism measures and mechanisms to combat drug trafficking, illegal migration, transnational crime and cyber threats, the organization needs to start working immediately on the new statutory area of activity related to the protection of citizens and the territory of the CSTO member states against biological threats,” the deputy foreign minister said.
