On July 4, session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the member-states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization was held in Yerevan, chaired by Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of Armenia.
Welcoming the guests, Edward Nalbandian stressed, that it is an honour for Armenia – a country, which assumed the CSTO Chairmanship in September of 2015 – to host the session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Yerevan.
Minister Nalbandian emphasized that Armenia has always had an active and initiative involvement towards the improvement of cooperation within the Organization, intensification of its role in the international arena, facilitation of cooperation between the member-states, development of the mechanisms of coordination of foreign policy.
The participants of the session shared the view that the improvement of the mechanisms of collaboration within the Organization, first of all, stems from the full implementation by the member-states of the commitments emanating from their membership.
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The agenda of the session included issues related to the fight against terrorism and extremism, intensification of the cooperation between the CSTO member-states within different international formats, regular updates of collective instructions to the Heads of the diplomatic missions of the CSTO member-states abroad and to the international organizations, the timetable of consultations on political, defence and security issues for 2016-2017.
Foreign Ministers discussed a range of issues on the CSTO activity and improvement of its effectiveness, including the preparatory works of the Collective Security Council session scheduled for October in Yerevan, the CSTO Collective Security Strategy for the period until 2025.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CSTO member-states touched upon the process of implementation of both the arrangements reached on the presidential level and the decisions made by the Collective Security Council in September and October of 2015 and the priorities of the Armenian Chairmanship.
The Council of Foreign Ministers approved a range of draft documents; statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and the Syrian crisis were adopted.
Following the session, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian and CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha delivered press statements.