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22 June 2021, 16:07

CSTO, OSCE encouraged to step up efforts to overcome complex security threats

MOSCOW, 22 June (BelTA) – Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Stanislav Zas met with OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid on 22 June. It was the first time the OSCE secretary general had visited the OSCE Secretariat and had made a speech during a larger session of the Permanent Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, CSTO Press Secretary Vladimir Zainetdinov told BelTA.

Stanislav Zas remarked that the advancement of constructive relations with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe occupies a prominent spot in the foreign policy agenda of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The official stated: “The CSTO and the OSCE should enhance their role in overcoming complex threats to security in the Eurasian space and the Euro-Atlantic one. It will contribute to the strengthening of the common and indivisible Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community.”

Photo courtesy of the Collective Security Treaty Organization

Stanislav Zas stressed that the Collective Security Treaty Organization is interested in expanding contacts and advancing cooperation with the OSCE in the areas of foreign policy, military politics, the counteraction of terrorism and terrorism-related extremism, illegal drugs trade. “The situation in Afghanistan needs close attention. We are in favor of developing and adopting joint statements on Afghanistan and on the other problems both organizations are interested in,” he said.

Stanislav Zas was convinced that more intensive interaction can achieve considerably higher effectiveness of the efforts exercised by the Collective Security Treaty Organization and by the OSCE. “The number of security challenges and threats is not going down. Fight against them should unite our organizations. In current conditions despite the growing confrontation and in essence the narrowing and even the closing of a number of important communication channels in Europe we believe that it is the OSCE and its institutions, which have been created to search for ways to prevent, monitor, and assist with the resolution of conflicts, that remain the platforms where dialogue continues albeit in a complicated manner,” the official concluded.

Photo courtesy of the Collective Security Treaty Organization

According to OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid, the OSCE and the CSTO are stepping up interaction. “I can say that both the OSCE and the CSTO maintain cooperation in some spheres but there are some areas where we could build up our interaction,” she said. Helga Maria Schmid reminded that during the OSCE Forum for Security Cooperation on 9 June the need was mentioned to advance a dialogue in border protection in order to counteract terrorism and organized crime and fight illegal drugs trade.

Summing up results of the meeting and the OSCE secretary general's speech during the session of the CSTO Permanent Council, Stanislav Zas said that the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are also going to build up cooperation in border protection and fight against cybercrimes. “Today the need was mentioned to advance cooperation in other areas, too: border protection, suppression of cybercrimes. These are burning issues we are already taking care of,” he remarked.

The CSTO secretary general concluded: “We intend to continue organizing meetings at such a high level in the future. We have to expand mutual participation in each other's events. We are ready to expand the participation of OSCE representatives in our events: military events and events concerning other security spheres.”

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