On November 27, Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, who is in Bishkek on a working visit, participated in the joint session of the Councils of Foreign Ministers, Defense Ministers and the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils of the CSTO member-states.

The agenda of the meeting included the cooperation of member-states within the framework of the CSTO and on international platforms, foreign policy coordination, addressing regional and international challenges and threats. The situation in Syria was thoroughly touched upon.

Welcoming the participants of the session, Minister Mnatsakanyan expressed gratitude to his Kyrgyz counterpart for the successful chairmanship of the CSTO, high-level organization of the session and expressed Armenia’s support to the priorities of the forthcoming Russian chairmanship in the Organization.

“Armenia will continue its active participation in further improvement and strengthening of the CSTO, as well as the efforts aimed at increasing the international reputation of the organization and complying it with current realities,'' said the Foreign Minister of Armenia.

Touching upon the vision of the Armenian side about the cooperation of the member-states within the framework of the organization, Minister Mnatsakanyan particularly emphasized the development of allied cooperation on international platforms related to the foreign policy coordination.

Presenting the recent developments of the peaceful settlement of the   Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Minister Mnatsakanyan emphasized that in terms of arrangements of creating an environment conducive to peace and preparing the population for peace, refraining from the bellicose rhetoric and hate speech, uncontrolled arms race as well as taking additional measures towards reducing tension in the line of contact is rather.

Minister Mnatsakanyan highlighted the importance of retaining the approaches on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict agreed by the CSTO member-states on all international platforms.

Foreign Minister also reflected on the situation in north-east Syria created by the recent invasion of Turkey expressing deep concern about the state of ethnic and religious minorities.

Minister Mnatsakanyan emphasized that Armenia will continue to provide humanitarian aid to friendly people of Syria for the benefit of regional peace and security.

It is noteworthy that the decision adopted by the Foreign Ministers  as a result of the session about the efforts of “Stabilizing the situation in the Middle East and North Africa”, the Ministers referred to the humanitarian mission of Armenia to Syria underscoring its importance in a joint statement expressed by the Foreign Ministers of the CSTO member- states.

The participants also approved the decisions of the Collective Security Council (CSC) of the CSTO on the amendments to the CSTO normative legal acts, amendments to the CSTO CSC Rules of procedures and amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the CSTO bodies.

CSC decisions on making amendments to the CSTO normative legal acts particularly refer to the appointment of the CSTO Secretary General and specification of the early termination of duties of the latter.