CSTO PA harmonizes the CSTO Sates’ legislation and establishes inter-parliamentary cooperation

We continue to introduce the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly to our subscribers and today we will talk about the main tasks of the Assembly.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization discusses cooperation between the CSTO Member States in the international, political and military, legal and other spheres and develops relevant recommendations which it sends to the Collective Security Council, other CSTO bodies and parliaments of the CSTO Member States.
Since 2007, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly has drafted, considered, adopted and sent to the parliaments of the CSTO Member States 69 model legislative acts designed to harmonize the CSTO Member States’ legislation governing defence and security.
In addition, the Assembly conducts parliamentary monitoring of the military and political situation in the CSTO regions of collective security and monitors joint exercises of the CSTO Collective Rapid Response Forces.
This task is carried out within the framework of the Coordination Council of Chairpersons of Committees (Commissions) on Defence and Security of the Parliaments of the CSTO Member States under the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The mechanism of parliamentary monitoring of the military and political situation is used by the CSTO PA specialized commissions, as well as by the committees of the parliaments of the CSTO Member States to create and develop legal conditions for more effective cooperation at inter-state and interagency level.
Representatives of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly take part in monitoring presidential and parliamentary elections at the invitation of the authorized bodies of the CSTO Member States. As CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas noted in his speech on February 2, the participation of parliamentarians in the election monitoring (by invitation of the authorized state bodies) “a unifying step for all of us when we are open to each other, including in such an important area of socio-political events as elections.”
An important part of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly activities is interaction and cooperation with international parliamentary and other organizations in accordance with its objectives.
According to the CSTO Secretary General, interaction with the United Nations has been and remains one of Organization’s priorities.
“Moreover, the CSTO actively participates in the activities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),” while the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly establishes ties with the corresponding OSCE parliamentary body (OSCE PA).
Work is underway to strengthen relations with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the oldest and most authoritative parliamentary organization in the world, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, which is the CSTO PA observer.
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