MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Nikolai Bordyuzha, general secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), met with SCO RATS Executive Committee Director Zhang Xinfeng, director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO RATS), on Monday.
"The meeting took place at the headquarters of the CSTO Secretariat in Moscow. The parties exchanged their views on the situation in the areas of joint responsibility and suggested intensifying further interaction in the fight against international terrorism, extremism, illegal turnover of drugs and weapons, transborder crime, and also the use of the Internet for criminal purposes," CSTO press officer Vladimir Zainetdinov told Interfax-AVN on Monday.
Zainetdinov said, citing Bordyuzha, that CSTO and SCO have common tasks in these spheres because four countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan) are members of both organizations.
Bordyuzha also reiterated the need for both organizations to unite their efforts to resolve common problems, including the further development of the situation in Afghanistan. "We are concerned that numerous armed groups of Islamic extremists may threaten the security of our countries," Bordyuzha said.
In this regard, Bordyuzha suggested discussing the issue of SCO RATS experts evaluation of the new project entitled List of Organizations Recognized as Terrorist and Extremist in the CSTO Countries. "I believe it would be expedient to organize joint work on unified approaches to the prevention of the activities by such organizations in the areas of joint responsibility of CSTO and CSO," he said.
The meeting also addressed issues relating to interaction and information exchange between the CSTO Secretariat and SCO RATS within the framework of the Protocol of Cooperation signed on June 14, 2011.