MOSCOW. May 19 (Interfax) - The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) plans to hold the next session of its Council of Foreign Ministers in the fourth quarter of 2021, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said.
"The next meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers is also planned in Tajikistan in the run-up to the Collective Security Council session in the fourth quarter of 2021. A special protocol decision has been made particularly on this," the CSTO Secretariat quoted Zas as saying following a CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers session in Dushanbe on Wednesday.
The participants also adopted several joint statements, one of them concerning the extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between Russia and the United States, Zas said.
"It says that the extension of the treaty promotes transparency and predictability in relations between the two largest nuclear powers, makes international security stronger, helps restore confidence, and provides preconditions for comprehensive negotiations on future arms control, with the obligatory consideration of all factors affecting the situation in this field. The CSTO member states see the extension of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of April 8, 2010 as a crucial element of the modern arms control architecture, international security, and stability," Zas said.
All the texts of the statements "will be published on the CSTO's official website and forwarded to the media soon," he said.