DUSHANBE, March 26, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Processes of military and political integration as well as military and economic cooperation within the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) area were the focus of a meeting of Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi with visiting CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha that took place in the Tajik capital Friday morning.

According to the Tajik MFA information department, the two exchanged views on immediate tasks of CSTO on developing the processes of military and political integration and expanding military and economic cooperation as well as providing security within the CSTO area.

Zarifi and Bordyuzha also discussed the present situation in Afghanistan and further efficient interaction between the CSTO member nations in that direction.

The CSTO secretary general highly appraised Tajikistan’s interaction with the CSTO institutions and appreciated Tajikistan’s support for advancing and implementing the main goals and objectives of the Organization, the MFA information department said.

Tomorrow, Bordyuzha will attend a roundtable meeting entitled “The System of Collective Security in the Central Asian Region: Prospects until 2015” that will take place at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe.

Organized on an initiative of the CSTO Secretariat and Tajikistan’s Security Council under support of President Emomali Rahmon, the meeting is expected to bring together political scientists, experts and representatives from institutes for political studies and think tanks as well as chiefs of diplomatic missions of the CSTO member nations active in Tajikistan.

The CSTO now groups Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.