Chairman of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper house of parliament) Rustam Emomali heading Tajik parliamentary delegation is in Moscow to participate in a joint meeting of the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (PA CSTO) and the 15th Plenary Session of the PA CSTO that is being held there today. 

According to the CSTO’s official website, the meeting is being attended by Alen Simonyan, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia; Vladimir Andreichenko, Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus; Erlan Koshanov, Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan; Nurlanbek Shakiyev, Chairman of the Jogorku Kenesh of Kyrgyzstan; Rustam Emomali, Chairman of the Majlisi Milli of the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan; and Stanislav Zas, CSTO Secretary General.

Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, reportedly sent a message of greetings to the meeting participants.

A delegation of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Iran headed by Vahid Jalalzadeh, Chairman of the Commission of National Security and Foreign Policy, arrived in Moscow yesterday to attend the meeting as guests of the Assembly.

Mr. Julio Antonio Garmendia Peña, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Cuba to the Russian Federation, is reportedly representing the Republic of Cuba in the meeting. 

The CSTO Parliamentary Assembly is expected to discuss  the draft model recommendations developed in accordance with the 2021–2025 PA CSTO Action Plan on Approximation and Harmonization of National Legislation of the CSTO Member States: On Improving the National Legislation of the CSTO Member States to Cut Off Channels of International Terrorism; On Harmonization of the CSTO Member States’ Legislation on the Issues of Withdrawal of Property of Citizens and Organizations During the State of War or Emergency (Requisitioning); On Improving Legislation to Ensure Protection of Electoral Processes and Sovereignty in the Collective Security Treaty Organization Member States and a number of other draft model laws.

Stanislav Zas, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, will report on the progress in implementing decisions of the CSTO Collective Security Council and on the military and political situation in the CSTO area of responsibility.

In view of the transfer of rotating presidency in the Collective Security Treaty Organization to the Republic of Belarus, Vladimir Andreichenko, Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, will report on priorities of the Republic of Belarus for the period of its presidency in the Organization in 2023.

The PA CSTO is responsible for inter-parliamentary interaction of the IPA CIS members who are also members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).  The PA CSTO was established by a resolution “On Measures for Creating a Parliamentary Dimension of the Collective Security Treaty Organization at the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly”, which was adopted on November 16, 2006 to address the priority goals of the development of the CSTO legal framework within the IPA CIS.

The PA CSTO comprises parliamentary delegations from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan. The administrative and legal framework of the PA CSTO is set out in the Provisional Regulations on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization dated March 30, 2007.  The PA CSTO Chair and the PA CSTO Council of the heads of parliament (parliament houses) oversee the operation of the PA CSTO. The rotating position of the PA CSTO Chair is held for a period of three years. The Secretariat of the IPA CIS Council has a specialized agency that is responsible for the administrative and technical aspects of the PA CSTO.  The operation of this agency is supervised by the Executive Secretary of the PA CSTO.  The PA CSTO and its Council meet at least twice a year.

The PA CSTO has three standing commissions on defense and security; on political affairs and international cooperation; and on socioeconomic and legal affairs.  The PA CSTO Council has a Working Group on the Standardization and Coordination of the CSTO Member States’ Legislations and the Expert Advisory Council. The Information and Analysis Centre operates under the PA CSTO.

The documents regulating the activities of the PA CSTO bodies include Regulations of the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly; Regulations on the Standing Commissions of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly; Regulations on the Expert Advisory Council at the Council of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly; Regulations on the Information and Analysis Centre of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly; and Regulations on the Secretariat of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.