Republic

MINSK, 11 August (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has left for the Republic of Kazakhstan to take part in informal meetings and the informal summit of the CSTO heads of state, BelTA has learnt. Belarus assumed CSTO presidency at the December session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Moscow. At the session Alexander Lukashenko put forward a number of Belarus’ initiatives to be materialized during this period. They include the creation of an efficient crisis response system; a possibility of joint peacekeeping operations together with the UN; establishment of a CSTO partnership institute; preparation of the CSTO peacekeeping forces for peacekeeping operations; development and adoption of target programs to provide the collective rapid response forces with state-of-the-art arms, military and special machinery and special-purpose devices. Among the priorities are engaging authorities, collective security forces and means of the CSTO to take part in joint exercise and training in the CSTO responsibility zone; establishing a single procedure of using the CSTO collective rapid response forces for emergency response in the CSTO member states within the framework of the CSTO emergency response plan; developing a legal framework to compile a list of persons whose entry to the CSTO member states is banned or undesirable. The CSTO is now busy working on these proposals.

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