Olga Kovitidi: The CSTO parliamentarians need to develop a universal regulatory framework of global resistance to biological threats

At a meeting of the CSTO PA Standing Commission on Political Affairs and International Cooperation Olga Kovitidi, a member of the Federation Council Committee on Defence and Security, suggested creating a universal regulatory framework of global resistance to infectious diseases and biological weapons.
Olga Kovitidi: The new coronavirus pandemic is a global threat to the world security system. Therefore, we, parliamentarians of CSTO Member States, need to develop a universal regulatory framework of global resistance to such threats and in particular, to infectious diseases and biological weapons.  
I firmly believe that this regulatory framework will be in demand. It is too early to say that overnight it will become a recommendation of the CSTO PA, a guide to action, an act of our Organization, but it is quite obvious that already today we need coordination of actions and a single plan to protect our citizens, the citizens of our countries.
That is why today Russia that has demonstrated the highest level of counteraction to the sudden epidemic and has shown solidarity with all countries, primarily CSTO States, and other countries in need of urgent assistance, Russia that demonstrates openness in its international legal relations and international solidarity in countering the global threat proposes to legally formalize the coordination of efforts to counteract the biothreat.
Neither is it surprising that it was from members of our delegation that we have received a proposal, which, of course, I will not be afraid of such a word, will be serve the interests of not only CSTO Member States, but of all humankind. We must understand today that only by coordinating and uniting our efforts will we be able to address this grave threat, which for many countries will become a serious test of the effectiveness of state governance.
Therefore, today we must proactively adopt a number of recommendations. In particular, a document that would regulate studying the status and trends of the epidemiological situation in the CSTO zone of responsibility and measures to stabilize it; it would become a universal regulatory model of global resistance to infectious diseases and biological weapons.
And I think that this is one of the documents that we need to adopt proactively to be able to protect ourselves and foresee all the risks in the future. The main priority today is to ensure livelihoods and health of our citizens and, secondly, we will have to live after the pandemics somehow, and we need to prepare for it as well, so I would like to express my gratitude to all participants of the meeting for the support that I received at the meeting and for understanding the need to develop these documents.
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