CSTO secretary general confident in sufficient strength of member states

MINSK, 18 May (BelTA) – The Collective Security Treaty Organization member states have sufficient strength to prevent their being torn apart, BelTA learned from CSTO Secretary General Imangali Tasmagambetov.

Imangali Tasmagambetov said: “There is no doubt we will have sufficient strength so as not to be torn apart. It is the key thing.”

In his words, the matter of cohesion of the CSTO countries is rather serious in actual fact. “The geopolitical situation in the world is intense. There are certainly many crisis moments in the CSTO responsibility area, too. Those are the problem of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the border problem between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,” the secretary general noted.

Imangali Tasmagambetov stressed that the resolution of the crisis situations requires primarily efforts of politicians and heads of state. As an example he referred to the situation at the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border: the presidents of the two countries have decided that the demarcation of the state border will be done without the mediation of third parties. More than 63% of the border has been demarked now. “Without a doubt, we welcome these efforts and hope this problem will be resolved,” the official said.

Imangali Tasmagambetov pointed out that regular negotiations on the situation in Southern Caucasus also take place. Armenia and Azerbaijan say that they recognize the borders between the two countries in accordance with the Alma-Ata declaration of 1991. This agreement on establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States reads that borders between new states shall be based on administrative borders between republics of the former USSR.

“We hope that these negotiations will lead to the signing of a peace treaty. And the countries will begin border demarcation later on,” the CSTO secretary general added.