CSTO NATIONAL SECURITY SECRETARIES MEET IN ARMENIA
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
10.12.2008 17:45

The sitting of the National Security Council Secretaries of CSTO
member states was held in Armenia today. The seven Security Council
Securities presented the results of the meeting to journalists during
a press conference.

A joint declaration was adopted at the sitting, which states that the
participants of the sitting of the National Security Secretaries of
CSTO member states confirm their support for the initiative of the
Russian Federation about a legally binding European Security Treaty,
which would allow creating a joint and secure system of collective
security over the Euro-Atlantic area.

"Deriving from the necessity of working out that document with equal
participation of all countries and international organizations
functioning over the Euro-Atlantic area, the countries member to
the CSTO welcome the Russian-French initiative of holding a summit
over OSCE area with participation of the CSTO, CIS, the European
Union and NATO to discuss the architecture of future security,"
the document reads.

The CSTO Security Council Secretaries adopted decisions on preventing
illegal drugs trafficking, resisting terrorism and illegal migration,
ensuring information security, tax control.

Speaking about the opportunities of the expansion of the organization,
the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization,

Nikolay Bordyuzha, declared that the issue of mechanically involving
new countries is not on the agenda. At the same time, he informed that
besides the seven member states, another 22 countries participate
in the "Kanal" operation against drugs trafficking. The Secretary
General assured that the organization will intensify the activity in
all directions.

Turning to the opportunities of coming forth with a common stance on
different issues within international organizations, the Secretary
of the National Security Council of Armenia, Arthur Baghdasaryan,
said the issue been discussed many times on the level of CSTO
Foreign Ministers. "We will always exchange views on the issue,
which immediately refer to our national security, the CSTO member
states and the organization, as a whole," Arthur Baghdasaryan said.

According to Mr. Baghdasaryan’s assessment, the discussions in Armenia
pave the way for the improvement of the Organization. In his words,
rather ambitions programs with good perspectives of development have
been presented.