Belarus' CSTO presidency to focus on building up mutual trust

MINSK, 25 May (BelTA) – Building up mutual trust will become a priority of Belarus' presidency over the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), BelTA learned from Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin after a session of the CSTO Defense Ministers Council took place in Minsk.

Viktor Khrenin said: “We've held a session of the council of defense ministers of the CSTO member states. The secretary general and the chief of the CSTO Joint Staff also took part in the session. It is of great significance for Belarus because it is taking place in the period of our country's presidency in the organization. The format of the session allowed us to sum up intermediate results of the organization's work and also work out new forms and methods of development of the organization's military component.”

Apart from that, Viktor Khrenin noted that the defense ministers had discussed ways to improve the effectiveness of crisis response measures to emerging challenges and threats. “We remarked upon the need to amend the organization's legal framework and national enactments of our states that determine how fast decisions to deploy collective security forces are made,” he added.

The minister underlined that priorities of Belarus' CSTO presidency would be efforts to reduce the conflict potential in the organization's responsibility area and efforts to enhance mutual trust measures. “I am convinced that today's session and the decisions that have been made would contribute to the enhancement of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in the system of international organizations,” Viktor Khrenin concluded.