Collective Security Treaty Organization to build on existing co-operation with OSCE, representatives say

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) intends to build on existing co-operation to expand its relations with the OSCE in areas including countering violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism, said speakers at the Forum for Security Co-operation held on 21 June 2017 in Vienna.

Valery Semerikov, Deputy Secretary General of the CSTO, stressed that his organization strongly believes that current global security challenges can be addressed only through joint efforts by international and regional organizations and national governments. Referring to Eurasia, a region where the CSTO promotes collective security, Semerikov said that it faces threats including “the escalation of existing and the emergence of new hotbeds of international and intra-state conflicts.”

Semerikov said that the CSTO pays special attention to combating terrorism and extremism: “In the CSTO Collective Security Strategy for the period up to 2025, the rising threat of international terrorism and extremism is defined as one of the most serious and dangerous challenges to collective security.”

Vyacheslav Musikhin, Adviser in the CSTO Secretariat’s Political Department said that relations between the CSTO and OSCE have been steadily developing since 2009 when CSTO member-states signed a document on priorities of co-operation with the OSCE. “Representatives of the CSTO take part in the meetings of the OSCE Ministerial Council, the Annual Security Review Conference, the Forum for Security Co-operation, thematic seminars and conferences. The CSTO Secretariat has established contacts and exchanges information with the Action against Terrorism Unit of the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department and the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre.”

The speakers noted that there is a need to increase practical co-operation at the international level to deal with current threats.

Musikhin added that the CSTO will continue to work towards establishing a network interaction of specialized international organizations and on deepening its co-operation with the OSCE to address common security challenges.