Armenia has enough resource to complete its term in position of CSTO Secretary General – MFA’s response to Belarussian President

Armenia can reaffirm that it has sufficient resource to complete its term in the position of the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), foreign ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan told reporters at a press briefing, commenting on the statement of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko according to which it is necessary to understand whether Armenia, which is at transition stage, can continue bearing the overload of holding the office of the CSTO Secretary General, the chairmanship in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

“As a country which contributes to the strengthening of the structure, Armenia can fully reaffirm that it has enough resource to complete its term in the post of the CSTO Secretary General. But before that it is necessary to determine how the issues linked with the early termination of the powers of the Secretary General are being solved from normative legal perspective”, the MFA spokeswoman said.

Commenting on the statement of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev that the next CSTO Secretary General should be the representative of Belarus, the foreign ministry spokesperson clarified that during the November 8 discussions on the CSTO chief a decision was made to move the discussions to December 6 because no consensus was reached over this issue. “Of course, we have our opinions regarding the solution of the issue which do not necessarily need to be coincided with the opinions of the remaining states”, she said.

Anna Naghdalyan also commented on the question how Armenia reacts to the fact that the President of Belarus presents the discussions over the Secretary General during the meeting with the Ambassador of Azerbaijan which is not a member of the CSTO. “Armenia views the CSTO as a platform of discussions over collective security agenda which relates to the six member states. And of course, such development shows that there is a need for discussions over similar developments within the CSTO. This shows that the CSTO has problems to correct inside. But as for this situation, I can state that it’s not correct”, she added.

She also recalled that Armenia chaired in the CSTO in 2015-2016 and this is one of Armenia’s most successful chairmanships. Naghdalyan said she can consider this the best response to all discussions over Armenia’s chairmanship.

Summing up remarks, the MFA spokeswoman stated that the strengthening of the CSTO and raising its efficiency are a priority for Armenia.