CSTO PA introduces a partnership institution

On July 1, 2021, at a field session in Dushanbe, Republic of Tajikistan, the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization adopted Regulation on Partnership and Partnership Status of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
The document establishes criteria and conditions to be met by the candidates for the CSTO PA partner status, the procedure for its granting, rights and obligations, as well as partner status termination procedure.
As you may recall, on January 20, 2021, the CSTO Secretariat issued a press release announcing that all six CSTO Member States have completed the ratification procedure of four Protocols on Amendments to the Collective Security Treaty, the CSTO Charter and the Agreement on the Legal Status of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, in particular, the Third Protocol on Amendments to the CSTO Charter that establishes the legal basis for granting the CSTO Observer and Partner statuses to further promote cooperation with non-member states and international organizations.
The CSTO PA Council’s approval of the Partnership Regulation creates the legal mechanisms and conditions for simultaneous regulatory extrapolation of the partnership institution adopted in the CSTO to the activities of the Organization’s Parliamentary Assembly as well.
This will enable potential CSTO partners to participate in the parliamentary aspect of their relations with CSTO members, particularly since a number of states show interest in strengthening relations with the CSTO, as Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly and Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, noted in his speech at the meeting. The adoption of the Regulation will allow them to actively develop inter-parliamentary relations within the Organization.
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