ARMENIA TO HOLD ROTATING CHAIR IN CSTO NEXT YEAR – BAKIYEV

RIA Novosti
Oct 6 2007
Russia

DUSHANBE, October 6 (RIA Novosti) – Next year Armenia will hold a
rotating presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), the president of Kyrgyzstan, which currently chairs the CSTO,
said Saturday.

"Next session [of CSTO] will be held under Armenia’s chairmanship,"
Kurmanbek Bakiyev said at the CSTO summit in Tajikistan’s capital
of Dushanbe.

The next summit of the regional security organization will be held in
Moscow in May or June 2008 together with the summit of the Eurasian
Economic Community (Eurasec), Bakiyev added.

Earlier in the day the leaders of CSTO member states signed more than
20 documents. The documents stipulate the formation of a coordinate
council on illegal migration and extraordinary situations, a legal
basis of peacekeeping activities, and military and technical aid.

In particular, the CSTO countries will be able to buy Russian weapons
and military equipment on Russian domestic market prices, Russian
President Vladimir Putin said.

"Significant concrete results were reached [at the CSTO summit], mainly
in the sphere of military and technical supplies. We have agreed on
and finally adopted a list of documents allowing the CSTO states to
buy Russian weapons and military equipment on Russian domestic prices
for their armies as well as for special services," Putin said.

Meanwhile, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon called on the organization
to play a more active role in strengthening the peace process in
Afghanistan.

"We [the leaders] have discussed the reinvigoration of our efforts in
regard to the Afghanistan issue so that the CSTO could considerably
contribute to the peace process in this country," Rakhmon said adding
that the CSTO turned into an effective and internationally acknowledged
organization since it was formed 15 years ago.

Tajikistan has an acute problem with the narcotics trade, due to
the constant flow of illegal drugs from neighboring Afghanistan,
which supplies over 90% of the world’s heroin.

Heroin production in Afghanistan has increased 20-fold since the
Taliban was toppled by allied forces in December 2001. Tajikistan
is now a transit country for Afghan narcotics bound for Russian and
European markets.

The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This year the organization will mark a
15th anniversary.