ISLAMABAD, SPET 03 (DNA) – Ambassador of Tajikistan to Pakistan Sherali Jononov has said Tajikistan will host CSTO summit in September which will be participated by the member countries.The ambassador told this while giving a briefing to a select group of media persons about the forthcoming meeting of Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to be held in Dushanbe in the second week of September. Heads of State and government from six members’ countries will attend the meeting.Ambassador further informed the CSTO meeting apart from other things, will also discuss the terrorism related issues and how to deal with this threat. He informed ISIS issue will also come under discussion.

Ambassador Sherali said, Tajikistan as one of the Member States of Collective Security Treaty Organization attaches great importance to cooperation within the framework of this organization. The Republic of Tajikistan is chairing the Collective Security Treaty Organization in 2015.
President of the Republic of Tajikistan, chairman of Collective Security Council Emomali Rahmon approved the “Action Plan for implementation of the decisions of December session (2014) of the CSTO and the priorities proposed by the Republic of Tajikistan for the period of its chairmanship in the organization”.

This year the session of the CSTO Collective Security Council and the sessions of the CSTO statutory bodies – the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, the Council of Ministers of Defense, the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Councils and meetings of other working bodies will be held in Dushanbe.

He said, the current members of the organization are Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan.
The organization, he informed, operates on the basis of rigorous respect for the independence, voluntary participation, equality of rights and obligations of member states, non-interference in the internal affairs which fall under the national jurisdiction of Member States.

The main objectives and principles of the organization are to strengthen peace, international and regional security and stability and to ensure collective protection of independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Member States, in the attainment of which Member States shall give priority to political means.

The Member States harmonize and coordinate their foreign policy positions on international and regional security problems, using, primarily, consultation mechanisms, combine their efforts in the fight against international terrorism, religious extremism, illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, weapons, transnational organized crime, illegal migration and other threats to the security of the Member States.
Ambassador Sherali added, the Organization may cooperate with non-member states, maintain relations with international intergovernmental organizations working in the field of security.
It is also authorized to conclude with them international agreements aimed at the establishment and development of such cooperation. At present, active measures on establishing cooperation with such organizations as the UN, OSCE, SCO, CIS and OIC are taken within the framework of the CSTO. Establishing a dialogue with NATO is seen as possible.

“An important aspect of joint anti-terrorism activity is to bring into line within the CSTO a list of organizations recognized as terrorist and extremist in the Member States of the organization.
The list includes such structures as “Al-Qaeda”, “Islamic Party of Turkestan” (formerly the “Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan”), “Hizb-ut-Tahrir-Islami”, “Muslim Brotherhood”, “Taleban Movement”, “Islamic Jihad -Dzhamaat Mujahideen” and the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement”, he added.

The ambassador said, the Republic of Tajikistan believes that immediate and important tasks of the CSTO are the intensification of military-political integration of the CSTO Member States, the coordination of the CSTO Member States’ capacities and the improvement of the Member States in the area of defense policy, military construction and military-technical cooperation.=DNA