CIS Conference on Combatting Terrorism and Extremism Held in Bishkek

On September 20, Kyrgyzstan hosted the first Commonwealth of Independent States conference on combating terrorism and extremism. The event was organized by Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS) and the Anti-Terrorist Centre (ATC) of the CIS member states.

Representatives of CIS countries, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states, as well as representatives of the Secretariat and the Joint Staff of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) gathered in Bishkek.

At the opening of the conference, Kamchybek Tashiyev, SCNS Chairman, noted that Kyrgyzstan took an active part in creating a new platform aimed at sharing best practices and knowledge on countering modern challenges and threats.

“Terror has no nationality, race or age and brings universal destruction and chaos. Kyrgyzstan is actively fighting terrorism, but I believe that uniting with other countries will give a good impetus,” Mr Tashiyev said.

He added that Kyrgyzstan has developed a state programme to counter terrorism and extremism that provides an algorithm for joint action by both government agencies and society as a whole.

The conference resulted in the adoption of the final document, resulting from the continuing efforts to strengthen the counter-terrorism cooperation of international organizations (CSTO, CIS, SCO and others).

As you may recall, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly is constantly working to harmonize the anti-terrorist legislation of the CSTO Member States in various areas. For example, a legal framework has been established, whereby if an organization is recognized as a terrorist organization in one CSTO Member State, it is automatically recognized as a terrorist organization by all allies of the bloc.