CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov in Qingdao took part in a meeting of top executive officials of the CIS, CSTO and SCO

   On June 9, 2018, in Qingdao (People's Republic of China), a meeting of senior executives of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held on the margins of the SCO summit.

   CSTO Secretary General Yury Khachaturov, Chairman of the Executive Committee - CIS Executive Secretary Sergey Lebedev and SCO Secretary General Rashid Alimov exchanged views on the security situation in the Eurasian space, on developing cooperation in the trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian fields.

     The parties recognized the need to further consolidate efforts and improve international counter-terrorism cooperation. They stressed that such interaction should be carried out with the central coordinating role of the UN on the basis of strict observance of its Charter and the norms of international law, the principle of the unacceptability of “double standards”.

    Top executive officials welcomed the Memorandum of Understanding signed in May 2018 on cooperation and interaction between the CSTO Secretariat, the CIS Antiterrorist Center and the SCO Regional Antiterrorist Structure. The CSTO Secretary General, Yury Khachaturov, noted that this “will give a new impetus to the interaction between the partners in the interests of solving common specific strategic tasks.” According to SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov, “this is also a practical confirmation of the growing role of cooperation between various regional international structures and in the global context.”

During the meeting, the importance was noted of the adoption at the upcoming SCO summit of the Joint Appeal of Heads of State to young people, as well as the Action Program for its implementation, aimed at preventing youth from being involved in the activities of terrorist and extremist organizations.

     The parties also expressed concern about the increased threats associated with drug trafficking. The need to develop a joint approach in this direction was emphasized.

   The trilateral meeting was held in a traditionally friendly and constructive atmosphere.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Collective Security Treaty Organization are partner organizations (from April 2005 and from October 2007, respectively), developing interaction based on Memorandums of Understanding between them.