Opinions & Interviews

ASTANA, 8 November (BelTA) – Decisions made by the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Astana, Kazakhstan are in line with Belarus’ policy, BelTA learned from Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei.

Vladimir Makei said: “On the whole, we evaluate results of the summit as positive. A number of important decisions were made. Including those once initiated by Belarus. Unfortunately, it took several years to make the decision on the statuses of [CSTO] observers and partners. Although it was obvious and necessary. A number of other important decisions were made, which cannot be disclosed. And a number of decisions relating to information security, fight against terrorism and so on. We believe the summit was truly a success. The decisions made at this meeting are in line with of the policy of our country.”

When asked about potential partners or observers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Vladimir Makei noted that the relevant decisions will be made by concrete countries. “Many countries maintain close ties with the post-Soviet space and are willing to more tightly interact with the CSTO. Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. Time is needed for everyone to learn about these new statuses,” he said.

In his words, it is necessary to improve the standing of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The CSTO needs to be respected, including by regional military political and international organizations. “We vigorously advance contacts with the OSCE and the UN, in particular, in peacemaking affairs. Contacts with the SCO and the CIS advance fast. I think in the future it will be necessary to pay more attention to advancing cooperation and interaction with these organizations,” believes Vladimir Makei.

Speaking about the summit in Astana, Vladimir Makei stated that a lot of attention was paid to fighting terrorism in the cyberspace. These matters were high on the agenda of the recent conference held in Minsk together with the OSCE.

The Belarusian minister of foreign affairs expressed certain dissatisfaction with time requirements involved in the CSTO work: “We sometimes talk too much about some general things. But when we start talking about specifics, about security on the border with neighboring countries, for instance, in Central Asia, decisions are often made slowly or are not made at all according to the reports we get from our colleagues.”

A new CSTO secretary general is supposed to be appointed by the end of the year. Vladimir Makei said he believes that the new leadership in the person of the CSTO secretary general should infuse new life into the organization. “The organization needs to become faster and more mobile. It should more effectively respond to the immediate challenges and threats we observe along the perimeter of our CSTO space,” said the Belarusian minister of foreign affairs.