Yerevan is hosting an informal summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) members, participated in by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and the head of the CSTO Nikolai Bordyuzha, Armenian and Russian media report.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan made the opening speech, greeting all the guests. He recalled that the idea of collective forces of operative reaction was proposed 1.5 years ago at the informal summit in the city of Borovoy in Kazakhstan in 2008. He noted that the first training exercises of the forces have been held and preparations for the next exercises are being worked out.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev then proposed discussions about the first steps of the CSTO in stabilizing the situation in Kyrgyzstan and effecting an efficient anti-crisis policy and the official CSTO summit in Moscow.
Medvedev noted that the heads of CSTO countries are only exchanging views on topical issues and there will be no official document signed, especially while Uzbek president Islam Karimov is absent. Medvedev asked the head of the CSTO, Nikolai Bordyuzha, to inform Karimov about the discussions in Yerevan.
The CSTO members will later continue discussions on Lake Sevan and hold bilateral talks at the Arsnakar hotel complex.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko is participating, despite the recent tensions between Minsk and Russia. He is sitting opposite Dmitry Medvedev.
