CSTO Secretary calls for more active cooperation with NATO.

4/2 Tass 121

DUSHANBE, February 4 (Itar-Tass) - Secretary General of the Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha said on Thursday he
hoped for more active cooperation between his organization and the North
Atlantic Alliance.
"We have repeatedly offered to establish cooperation, including on
such acute problems as combating drug trafficking from Afghanistan and
anti-terrorism activities. We hope that now after the NATO leadership
rotated Brussels will change its approach to the CSTO-NATO relations,"
Bordyuza said in an interview with the Tadjik weekly Dushanbe Evening.
Speaking about the situation within the CSTO guidelines area,
including in the Central Asian region, Bordyuzha ruled out any possibility
of armed conflicts there. "In the post-Soviet territories, the majority of
leaders know only too well about hot spots and conflicts, which are still
'smouldering' in some areas, and this, to my opinion, is enough to take
reasoned and right decisions," he said.
According to Bordyuzha, CSTO is gravely concerned over the situation
in Afghanistan, which appears "extremely critical and explosive and is
catastrophically deteriorating" making the general situation in Central
Asia "stably tense." In his context, Bordyuzha emphasised the importance
of "political methods and forms in settling any conflicts."
-0-ras/gor