CSTO foreign ministers to meet in Moscow this fall

MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - The next session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be held in Moscow this fall, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after a Wednesday session of the council.

The session was attended by the Armenian, Belarussian, Kazakh, Tajik and Russian foreign ministers and the acting Kyrgyz foreign minister. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov chaired the session.

"The session focused on military-political developments in the CSTO zone of responsibility, including cooperation among the CSTO members on Afghanistan's post-conflict settlement," the Foreign Ministry said.

The CSTO foreign ministers issued a statement on the ratification of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. The council adopted a plan for consultations of CSTO representatives on foreign policy, security and defense from July 2005 till June 2006.

The Foreign Ministry said Russia had assumed the chair of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers for the next year.