Six CSTO presidents begin informal summit in Kazakhstan's Astana

ASTANA, August 12 (Itar-Tass) -- The presidents of six out of seven
member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have
gathered in Kazakhstan's Astana for an unofficial summit meeting.
The six leaders include Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, Nursultan
Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Serzh Sargsyan
of Armenia, Emomali Rakhmon of Tajikistan, and Roza Otunbayeva of
Kyrgyzstan. President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov is not taking part in
the Astana summit.
The summit's host, Nursultan Nazarbayev, welcomed his CSTO
counterparts at the lobby of the Rixos Hotel, one of the best ones in the
city. Since this is an unofficial meeting, the CSTO leaders were wearing
no ties. Only the Russian leader was dressed in an official manner, a fact
that did not come unnoticed by the Kazakh president. The Russian president
smiled and took his tie off just before TV cameras and put it in his
jacket's pocket.
Beginning the meeting, the Kazakh president outlines a range of issues
to be discussed, such as the situation in the Middle East and North
Africa, the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, natural and
anthropogenic catastrophes in the region. "Threats of terrorism, and
international arms and drug trafficking are augmenting, questions arise in
the area of information security," he said.
Then, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who is currently
chairing the organization, took the floor. Such informal CSTO summits "in
an off-season period have become a good tradition," he noted. He wished
his counterparts "fruitful work" and said he hoped the summit will be held
"in a friendly atmosphere."
Then, the meeting will be held behind closed doors.