On Wednesday January 12, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev received the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Stanislav Zas, who is currently on a working visit to Kazakhstan.

According to the Ak Orda (White Horde -- the official workplace of the President of Kazakhstan), Tokayev expressed satisfaction with the results of the CSTO extraordinary online summit and thanked the CSTO allies for support and providing timely assistance to Kazakhstan during a terrorist attack.

The President of Kazakhstan reportedly noted the personal contribution of the Secretary-General and all employees of the CSTO Secretariat and United Staff to organization of the peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan.  

“The current situation once again confirmed the value of the Organization as a military and political structure. I think that the whole international community is now talking about the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The effectiveness of the organization in this situation was very obvious. It is extremely important that the Secretariat should establish cooperation with the leaderships of other international organizations”, Tokayev said.

Stanislav Zas, for his part, reportedly informed Kazakh president about the progress of implementation the CSTO peacekeeping mission in Kazakhstan and the beginning of the withdrawal of the CSTO peacekeepers from the country.    

Meanwhile the CSTO website says Stanislav Zas is on working visit to Kazakhstan from January 11 to January 13 to explore the situation on the ground and meet with the high-ranking Kazakhstan political and defense officials, as well as with the command of the CSTO Collective Peacekeeping Forces.