Security Council secretary attends CIS event in Moscow

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani Security Council Secretary Ramil Usubov has attended a meeting of secretaries of the CIS countries' security councils held in Moscow, Trend reported on November 17.

The participants discussed national, regional and international security issues at the meeting, the report added.

Addressing the event, Russian Security Council Chairman Nikolai Patrushev urged the CIS countries to develop new biological safety rules amid the emergence of new infections and the development of genetic engineering.

Furthermore, problems such as biological threats, challenges in the information sphere, issues related to artificial intelligence, and its role in ensuring national security were discussed during the meeting.

The video conference meeting of the heads of the Security Councils of the CIS countries was held in 2020.

The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was founded in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Meetings are held periodically on a rotating basis at the CIS countries’ capitals. An informal summit was held in Sochi, Russia in July 2001. Forums include the Council of Heads of State, the Council of Prime Ministers, and the Council of Foreign Ministers.

The CIS performs its activities on the basis of the Charter, adopted by the Council of Heads of States on 22 January 1993, which stipulates the goals and principles of the Commonwealth, and the rights and obligations of the countries.

The Charter states that the Commonwealth was formed on the basis of sovereign equality of all its members and that the Member States were independent and equal subjects under international law. The Charter also states that the CIS serves the development and strengthening of friendship, inter-ethnic accord, trust, mutual understanding, and cooperation between States.

The Commonwealth does not have supranational powers. Countries’ interaction within the CIS is accomplished through its coordinating institutions: the Council of Heads of State, the Council of Heads of Government, the Councils of Foreign Ministers, Defense Ministers, Border Troops Commanders, the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Executive Committee, and the Interstate Economic Committee of the Economic Union.

The Collective Security Council adopted documents such as the Collective Security Concept, the Declaration by the Collective Security Treaty States, and the Basic Guidelines for Deepening Military Cooperation among the Collective Security Treaty States.