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The CSTO remains an integral part of the security architecture of the Eurasian region, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he opened a session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Minsk, BelTA has learned.

The current meeting of the CSTO Collective Security Council completes the Belarusian chairmanship in the organization. Formally, Belarus will transfer the chairmanship to its Kazakh friends on 31 December 2023.

"The year was fast-paced in terms of the development of the geopolitical situation. Accordingly, the schedule of our work was intensive. Since the spring, Belarus has hosted CSTO events almost every month: the Council of the Parliamentary Assembly, then intersessional meetings of statutory bodies at the ministerial level, coordination meetings of the relevant state bodies of the CSTO member states to counter transnational threats, such as drug trafficking, illegal migration, emergencies, challenges in the field of biological security and cybersecurity," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The CSTO countries conducted a set of exercises to strengthen the military dimension of the organization. In October, Minsk played host to a major international conference on Eurasian security. It was held under the auspices of the Belarusian chairmanship in the CSTO.

"In other words, our organization remains an integral element of the system to ensure security of its member states and the Eurasian region as a whole," the president said.

In November of last year, during a session of the Collective Security Council in Yerevan, Aleksandr Lukashenko announced the guidelines of Belarus' chairmanship both on the internal and external contours.

"On the internal circuit, we sought to increase the cohesion of the CSTO member states in order to strengthen the organization itself, to ensure security and stability in the area of responsibility. Externally, our goal was to bolster the role and importance of the organization in the system of international relations. Today we can say that the goals set by the Belarusian side in November last year have been generally achieved," the head of state said.

According to him, some of the activities have already been completed. Work on others is still in progress. Some other goals are long term and have been taken into consideration by both the member states and the CSTO Secretariat.

"The results of the work are a collective success achieved through the effort OF all of us - the parties to the agreement. We would not have been able to implement our plans without the support of friends and partners for the priorities of the Belarusian chairmanship," the president stressed.