Nazarbayev notes growing threat to CSTO stability, security
By Mikhail Petrov

ITAR-TASS News Agency
June 18, 2004 Friday 12:22 AM Eastern Time

ASTANA, June 18 – President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev
has pointed to the “increased threat to stability and security” to
member-countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).

Speaking at an enlarged meeting of the CSTO summit in the Kazakh
capital Astana on Friday he urged to “reduce to minimum the doubling
of functions within the framework of the organisation, concentrate
on the military-political component and intensify cooperation against
challenges and threats of today.”

Addressing the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia
and Tajikistan the Kazakh leader noted that the CSTO member states
have considerable prospects for military-technical cooperation.

“At today’s meeting we should consider priorities of our activities
for the near-term prospect,” Nazarbayev said.

The Astana summit opened with a discussion in private held behind
closed doors. Russian president’s aide Sergei Prikhodko said
earlier that the main subjects for discussion could be divided into
three parts: the actual coordination of the foreign policy within
international organisations framework, set-up of real functioning of
structures of the CSTO itself and joint operations of its anti-aircraft
defence systems.

The Collective security Treaty (CST) was signed in Tashkent in 1992
by heads of six CIS countries – Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Belarus
joined the treaty in 1993.

The treaty came into force for all the nine countries in April 1994
for a term of five years. However, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Uzbekistan
decided not to sign a protocol on the treaty’s prolongation in
April 1999.

In 2002 the CST was reorganized into a full-fledged international
organisation – the CSTO.

Under the CSTO charter, its member states take joint measures to
form within the framework of the organisation a viable system of
collective security and create regional groups of troops, coordinate
their efforts in the fight against international terrorism, drug
trafficking, weapons smuggling, organised crime, illegal migration
and other menaces to their security.