MINSK, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Belarus has been consistently driving the agenda of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and intends to keep that role, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday.
While meeting newly-appointed CSTO Secretary-General Taalatbek Masadykov in Minsk, Lukashenko also presented a region-based defense concept under which Belarus would anchor the western direction, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan would focus on the south, and Russia would provide rapid reinforcement wherever needed.
Lukashenko added that all six members of the alliance might eventually have to defend the common post-Soviet space together.
Masadykov, for his part, outlined plans to restructure the CSTO Secretariat into a round-the-clock crisis-management hub for diplomatic and military coordination.
He acknowledged mounting border pressures and a crowded international schedule, stressing that only pooled resources can stabilize the organization in the current turbulence. ■