Military-Political Integration Of Cis Member Countries - Participants Of Collective Security Treaty - Becomes Concrete

The military-political integration of CIS member countries - participants of Collective Security Treaty - acquires a concrete nature. General Secretary of the CIS Collective Security Council Valery Nikolayenko said this after the consultations of deputy foreign ministers and deputy defence ministers of countries-participants of the Collective Security Treaty held in Alma-Ata on Monday. Taking part in the consultations were representatives of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Russia and Tajikistan. These consultations were held as a preparation for the summit of the heads of states-participants in the Collective Security Treaty, scheduled for May 24-25 in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The creation of the rapid deployment forces in the Central Asian region will be on the agenda of the summit. This question was the main at the meeting held on Monday. Nikolayenko stressed that such forces are being formed on a multilateral basis within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty for the first time. They will be of an anti-terrorist nature and will contribute to ensuring security in the Central Asian region. Non-participation of Uzbekistan in this system, which does damage to its comprehensive importance, aroused great concern of the consultations' participants. The developments in Afghanistan and their influence on the situation in Central Asia were also discussed during the consultations. Their participants approved of the initiative of Kazakhstan to hold, on its territory, international negotiations under the aegis of the United Nations on the Afghan problem. An exchange of opinions was also held on preventing destabilisation of the situation in the Central Asian region in spring and in summer, the period of a seasonal intensification of the bandit formations' actions. By that time, the creation of the collective forces should be completed. First deputy defence minister and chief of the general staff of Kazakhstan Alibek Kasymov expressed the opinion of his colleagues that the rapid deployment forces should be sufficient for solving urgent problems if they arise in the Central Asian region.

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