CSTO Secretary General presents heads of state with analytical overview of CSTO activities over 20 years

At the meeting of the CSTO heads of state on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20th anniversary of the CSTO, Stanislav Zas, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, presented an analytical overview of the CSTO activities over the 20 years of its existence.
“This overview has been prepared by the Secretariat in pursuance of the assignment of the President of the Republic of Tajikistan. Incidentally, the preparation of this overview itself was very interesting and useful for us. On the eve of such big anniversaries, we tried to look back at the road we have travelled and assess the current state of the CSTO; and there is this enduring good feeling that we have something to be proud of,” the CSTO Secretary General said.
Stanislav Zas noted that the Organization has a foreign-policy coordination mechanism that CSTO States use to elaborate a consolidated position on urgent issues on the regional and global agenda. Cooperation with international regional organizations and their relevant agencies has been established. The principle of the priority of political and diplomatic means in achieving CSTO goals has been preserved and is being cultivated. This is probably one of the main pillars of our Organization.
“Over these years, we have significantly increased CSTO’s military potential. The structure, equipment and level of training of command-and-control bodies and formation of collective security system is improving,” the CSTO Secretary General stressed. He cited the formation of a unified training system for personnel, command-and-control bodies and troops as CSTO’s important achievement. “Certainly, the pinnacle of this system is comprehensive joint exercises that we schedule and hold annually,” the CSTO Secretary General stressed.
Stanislav Zas recalled that an effective mechanism for combating modern challenges and threats such as illegal drug trafficking, illegal migration, international terrorism or crime through information technologies has been established and is being improved. To this end, joint preventive measures and special operations are planned. “Their results show that they are relevant and effective,” Stanislav Zas said.
The CSTO Secretary General emphasized the completion of the formation of collective instruments to ensure biological security.
“The CSTO crisis response system occupies an important place. It is probably only logical that in view of the first practical experience gained in Kazakhstan in testing this system, today we will also look at how to improve it,” Stanislav Zas stressed.