All members of the international organization, the Belarusian leader is convinced, must unite and act together: it is always easier and easier that way. “If anyone thinks that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is not our conflict, that we will sit quietly somewhere, nothing like this will happen,” Lukashenko warned. According to him, the moment is not far when the partners “will need to decide, to take a certain position”.
At the same time, he once again emphasized that no one is pushing countries to act contrary to their national interests. “But we will have to find compromises. Even if we found them in the CSTO a long time ago and act as one organization”, recalled the president, expressing his confidence that this difficult period “will further unite the organization on the principles that are necessary and possible for each State.
Welcoming his guest, who recently assumed of Secretary General of the CSTO, the Belarusian leader also noted that they have known each other for a long time, although they did not meet directly. But, while working in other positions, the current Secretary General has interacted with government officials and other officials.
Therefore, underlined the President, the experience of the new Secretary General will be especially useful during the Presidency of Belarus. “Not only will it be useful, it will be in high demand,” he concluded.
In turn, Imangali Tasmagambetov sincerely thanked the Belarusian leader for supporting his candidacy to determine the secretary general of the CSTO at the organization’s session at the end of last year. He informed that at this stage it is possible to take into account all the decisions of the November session and the priority areas of the Belarusian chairmanship of the CSTO.
As already reported on the eve of the Secretary General’s visit to Minsk, he must submit to the Belarusian Head of State for approval an action plan for the implementation of the decisions of the November session of the Council of collective security of the CSTO and the implementation of priority areas of the organization’s activities during the presidency of Belarus, which was agreed the day before by the Permanent Council of the CSTO.
By the way, the priority areas of the Belarusian presidency in 2023 have already been determined, which, as SOYUZ has already reported, will take place under the slogan “By solidarity and cooperation for peace and security”.
Main tasks include resolving crisis situations and preventing further destabilization in the organization’s area of ​​responsibility; effective positioning of the OTSC on the outer contour; increase the readiness of the collective forces of the organization to perform tasks as planned, strengthen military-technical cooperation; strengthening of institutional capacities in the field of information and analysis.
