President Rahmon to attend CSTO informal summit in Kazakhstan

DUSHANBE, July 27, 2011, Asia-Plus -- President Emomali Rahmon will attend an informal summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that will take place in the Kazakh capital Astana on August 12, a source the government said.

The CSTO heads of state are expected to discuss issues related to providing regional security in Central Asia and military and technical cooperation within this regional security organization.

During his stay in Astana, Rahmon will probably hold a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the CSTO member nations, the source added.   

The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) -- Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year.  A 1994 treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force," and prevented signatories from joining any other military alliances or other groups of states directed against members states.  The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.  In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO.  Uzbekistan joined the Organization in 2006.