In Dushanbe, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in a joint meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, attended by member states of the two organizations. The situation in Afghanistan was discussed during the meeting.
At the beginning of his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan greeted the heads of the “delegations” of the states. “First of all, I would like to congratulate all those present on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Over the years, the SCO has emerged as a potential platform for regional security and cooperation.
I would like to thank the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, for the warm reception and organization of today’s meeting.
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“Our meeting comes at a time when radical change in Afghanistan has created a whole new situation in the country. Their nature has a significant impact not only on developments in the country and the region, but also on the situation and events around the world,” PM Pashinyan said, addressing the meeting.
“We are closely following developments in and around Afghanistan. The initial statements about the end of hostilities, the general amnesty of government officials, the intention to form an inclusive coalition government, respect for women’s rights in the Islamic legal system, and the desire to eradicate drug production in the country were welcomed by the international community. Prompt and full implementation of such measures would contribute to the establishment of peace, order and stability in the country,” the Armenian PM added.
He noted, however, that these intentions are yet to be reflected in the steps taken by the Taliban. “We are convinced that the guarantee of a long-term settlement of the situation in Afghanistan is a fair political process with the involvement of all Afghans and the representation of all ethnic and religious communities in the country.”
He noted that it’s necessary for all parties to show restraint, to reaffirm their readiness to resolve their differences exclusively through dialogue and negotiations.
“As a CSTO member state, we wanted peace and tranquility in all areas of collective security within the CSTO area of responsibility. Armenia is strongly interested in effectively curbing the threat of international terrorism in the CSTO and SCO regions. In the absence of an adequate response at the right time, this could lead to further escalation of the situation, with the penetration of terrorist networks into neighboring countries, especially conflict zones,” Pashinyan stated.
“We strongly condemn terrorism and extremism in all their forms and manifestations. The use of terrorist organizations by certain countries to achieve certain military-political goals is especially unacceptable,” he added.
He called for closer dialogue, cooperation, first of all, at the level of law enforcement agencies, special services, exchange of information, experience, as well as effective joint actions to neutralize the threat of terrorism within the framework of our Organization.