YEREVAN, 23 November (BelTA) – Allied relations must remain steadfast, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a narrow-participation meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Yerevan on 23 November, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized the importance of preserving allied relations: “In this frantic and rapidly changing world, our allied relations must remain firm. We should not allow anyone to get us embroiled into dispute, to plant seeds of disagreement between us. The future of our countries and our organization will depend on it.”
According to the president, over the 30 years since the Collective Security Treaty was signed and 20 years since the CSTO was established, a very difficult path has been passed to create a military and political union and to transform it into a modern multifunctional organization. “It is vitally important for us to strengthen the cohesion and solidarity within the CSTO, to seek each other's help more often and not to look for it on the side,” the Belarusian leader emphasized. “The stronger the internal unity is, the stronger our organization will be, the more others will respect it, the more effectively it will up to par with the evolving context of regional and global security."
According to him, the CSTO needs to adapt to changing challenges and threats. "The organization has a powerful collective potential for this. There are also certain points of growth," Aleksandr Lukashenko is sure.
The president noted that the effectiveness of the CSTO largely depends on the work of the Secretariat and the Secretary General. Taking this opportunity, he thanked Stanislav Zas for his work in the organization in a difficult time.
The head of state also supported the candidacy of Imangali Tasmagambetov as the new CSTO secretary general.
Imangali Tasmagambetov is a statesman and politician of Kazakhstan. At various times, he held the posts of prime minister, state secretary of Kazakhstan, head of the Presidential Administration, Akim of Almaty and Astana, Defense Minister.
