On June 11, in Almaty, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan participated in the session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Opening the session, Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kairat Abdrakhmanov, on behalf of the Foreign Ministers of the CSTO member states, congratulated Zohrab Mnatsakanyan on assuming the high office of the Foreign Minister of Armenia and wished him success in his responsible mission.

Ministers touched upon the implementation of agreements reached at the CSTO summit in Minsk in November, 2017.

The agenda of the session of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers included issues related to foreign policy coordination, holding of annual consultations on defense and security issues, countering regional and international challenges and threats, combating terrorism, and the peacekeeping mission component of the Organization.

In his remarks at the session of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan presented the priorities of Armenia in the organization, Armenia's assessments and approaches with regards regional and international challenges and issues, touched upon the mechanisms of strengthening cooperation within the Organization, and a continuous development of the CSTO capabilities in the field of peacekeeping.

Foreign Minister of Armenia informed his colleagues that a soldier of the Artsakh Defense Army was shot dead yesterday as a result of the Azerbaijani actions. In this context Minister Mnatsakanyan presented the actions of Baku at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as along the Line of Contact between Azerbaijan and Artsakh, stressing that these are unacceptable and irresponsible steps aimed at escalating the situation, which challenges the commitment of Azerbaijan to ensure the progress of the peace negotiations.