Valery Belsky: During Its Presidency, Belarus Will Focus on Improving the CSTO Legal Framework

Valery Belsky, Vice Speaker of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus, addressed the coordination meeting of the heads of parliamentary delegations of the CSTO Member States to the 146th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Manama (Kingdom of Bahrain). In his report, Valery Belsky spoke about the priorities of the Republic of Belarus’s presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization in 2023. The senator stressed that the Belarusian presidency prioritizes crisis management, effective positioning of the CSTO within the system of international relations, strengthening the military and analytical components of the Organization, response to information warfare and media positioning.

“The Belarusian presidency will make all possible diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions, reduce conflict potential and increase the level of mutual trust through joint actions of the CSTO Member States. Belarus intends to concentrate efforts on improving the Organization’s legal framework and the national legal acts in order to effectively respond to a wide range of crisis situations that arise within the CSTO area of responsibility,” said Valery Belsky.

According to him, special attention is planned to be paid to a simplification of the procedure of transit of contingents with weapons and military equipment through the territory of the Member States. The anti-crisis mechanisms that do not involve the forces and assets of the CSTO collective security system require further development and improvement of the efficiency of their use.

“We have not yet fully worked out the issue of using flexible ‘political’ tools: mechanisms of consultations, monitoring and on-site observation. To enhance coherence and strengthen inter-agency cooperation in counteracting transnational challenges and threats to security, Belarus intends to hold events under the mandate of profile agencies, with the possible invitation of two representatives of other interested countries and specialized international organizations,” noted Mr Belsky.

Within the framework of biological security, it is proposed to hold a meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Authorized Bodies of the Member States of the Organization in Belarus.

Due to the need to effectively position the CSTO within the system of international relations, Belarus suggested holding a broad discussion of the international agenda in the context of the CSTO interests at an international conference on Eurasian security with the participation of senior officials of the UN, SCO and CIS Secretariats and other international organizations. The event, according to Valery Belsky, is planned to be held in Minsk in 2023.

“Priority tasks in the military sphere for us are improving the readiness of the components of the CSTO troops to fulfil their missions and strengthening the military and technical cooperation between the Member States. For these purposes, in 2023, a number of joint exercises with the control bodies and formations of forces and assets of the CSTO collective security system will be planned and held in Belarus. The Belarusian presidency intends to pay special attention to increasing efforts to develop common approaches to standardization and cataloguing of defence products and to promotion of inter-company cooperation to manufacture advanced military products,” said the Belarusian speaker.

He also emphasized that Belarus intended to focus on strengthening the institutional capacity of the CSTO in the information and analytical sphere.

As you may recall, Belarus will host meetings of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly on May 18.