RAPID-REACTION FORCES WILL ENSURE SECURITY ALL OVER CSTO, PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA DECLARED
Karen Ghazaryan

"Radiolur"
05.02.2009 12:36

The extraordinary sitting of the Collective Security Council of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was held in Moscow on
January 4. Armenia currently presides over the organization and the
sitting was chaired by the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan. In
the evening the results of the sitting were summed up at a joint
press conference. President Sargsyan spoke about the four issues on
the agenda of the sitting.

Participants of the meeting fixed the budget for 2009, reelected
Nikolay Bordyuzha to the post of Secretary General of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization and decided to hold the next sitting
in Moscow in June. The primary topic of yesterday’s sitting was the
formation of rapid-reaction forces.

Turning to the decisions adopted, the Armenian President attached
special importance to the establishment of rapid-reaction forces. Serzh
Sargsyan stressed this is targeted at the reinforcement of military
forces and development of the potential. "The formation of such
forces means a recurrent stage of development and reinforcement
of the CSTO. This is what the member states of the Organization are
interested in. If we manage to set up those forces within a few months,
the security of our countries will only benefit from it.

During yesterday’s sitting the CSTO Secretary General and the Joint
Command of the Organization were instructed to work out a package of
normative acts deriving from the decision on the creation of quick
reaction coalition forces and present it to the consideration of the
statutory bodies within three months. President Sargsyan described the
creation of the rapid-reaction forces as an important step "targeted
at the strengthening of the military component of the organization."

During yesterday’s press conference Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
said that the discussions yielded the expected result. According to
him, thus the CSTO potential will not be less that that of NATO. "The
rapid-reaction forces should be the effective mechanism that will
ensure security all over the CSTO.

Following a working dinner, the Heads of State participated in the
special sitting of the Interstate council of the Eurasian Economic
Community (EurAsEC). Issues of establishing a joint anti-crisis fund
and center of high technologies were discussed.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress