Documents on granting the CIS observer status to the CSTO have been submitted for national approval

An expert group has met in Minsk (Republic of Belarus) to coordinate draft decisions of the CIS Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Council of Heads of State on granting the Commonwealth observer status to the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
BelTA reports citing the CIS Executive Committee that the expert group meeting was attended by plenipotentiary representatives of the CIS member states and experts from the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan and representatives of the CIS statutory and sectoral bodies: the Secretariat of the CIS Council of Ministers of Defence, the Bureau on Coordination of Fight Against Organized Crime and Other Dangerous Types of Crimes, the Coordination Service of the Council of the Commanders of the CIS Border Guard Troops, Council of the Heads of Migration Authorities of the CIS Member States and the CIS Executive Committee.
Representatives of the CSTO Secretariat were also invited to participate in the meeting.
Beketzhan Jumakhanov, deputy Chairman of the CIS Executive Committee, opened the expert group meeting noting that it was being held within the framework of implementation of the protocol decision of the CIS Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs on the observer to the CSTO of May 13 this year.
Participants of the meeting discussed draft decisions of the CIS Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and CIS Council of Heads of State on granting the Commonwealth observer status to the CSTO. The meeting decided to send the materials of the expert group meeting to the member states of the Commonwealth for the procedure of national approval of the draft decisions after which they will be introduced to the CIS Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and CIS Council of Heads of State in accordance with the established procedure.
After the meeting representatives of the CIS Executive Committee and the CSTO Secretariat held consultations on the preparation of a preliminary draft protocol on granting the Commonwealth of Independent States observer status to the Collective Security Treaty Organization.