New CSTO secretary general may visit Belarus in February

New Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Imangali Tasmagambetov may visit Belarus in February, BelTA learned from State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Aleksandr Volfovich.

Aleksandr Volfovich was in Moscow on 10 January to introduce the new CSTO secretary general to top officials of the CSTO Secretariat, the CSTO Joint Staff, and permanent and plenipotentiary representatives of the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states. Aleksandr Volfovich acted upon instructions of Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko.

Aleksandr Volfovich also talked to Imangali Tasmagambetov as part of the introduction ceremony. Aleksandr Volfovich said that a plan on realizing the decisions made during the November session of the CSTO Collective Security Council and on realizing Belarus' presidency's priorities in the CSTO this year is being polished together with the CSTO Secretariat. “The plan has already been forwarded to the CSTO states for reconciliation. I think it will be reconciled soon. The new CSTO secretary general has been invited to visit Belarus in February in order to get the plan approved by Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko. Imangali Tasmagambetov accepted the proposal,” Aleksandr Volfovich said.

Aleksandr Volfovich and Imangali Tasmagambetov discussed topical matters of international security and regional security, exchanged opinions about the situation in the CSTO responsibility area, discussed current challenges and threats in the Eastern Europe collective security region, the Central Asia collective security region, and the Caucasus collective security region. Close attention was paid to the coordination of efforts to realize the priority avenues of the CSTO work in 2023, which Belarus has put forward as the CSTO presiding country. They primarily focus on the resolution of crisis situations, on enhancing the Collective Security Treaty Organization prestige in the system of international organizations, on developing the crisis response system, the collective peacemaking forces, and the rapid response forces for the sake of accomplishing missions in the course of resolving conflict situations, on developing the information and analysis component, Aleksandr Volfovich explained.