CIS Border Troops Commanders Council’s meeting held in Baku
Baku, September 9 (AZERTAC). Azerbaijan is hosting the 70th session of the CIS Council of Commanders of Border Troops to discuss priority issues for protection of the CIS borders, including frontiers in the Central Asia and Caspian Sea.
They will form a set of recommendations for the Council of Heads of States to settle situations on the outer borders of the CIS and help Tajikistan strengthen security on the Afghan border.
The event was attended by representatives of 10 countries, as well as some authoritative structures, including the CIS Anti-Terror Center, CIS Executive Secretariat and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Following opening remarks by chief of the Azerbaijan State Border Service (SBS), Lieutenant General Elchin Guliyev, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Border Service, colonel-general Vladimir Kulishov addressed the meeting.
The keynote speech was made by Presidential Adviser of the Republic of Azerbaijan on defense issues, deputy head of the Presidential Administration Vahid Aliyev.
Vahid Aliyev said that effective protection of state borders is one of the main directions in the provision of international security due to globalization and the integration of the various countries into the world community: “Participating countries in this meeting somehow face typical and often tragic problems like international terrorism, separatism, transnational organized crime, illegal migration, drug trafficking and smuggling of weapons of mass destruction and their components. Our country also faces the problem based on separatism and we have been living with this problem. In fact, border security is one of the priorities of state security system and serves as a guarantee of stability in the region. Currently, nature and specificity of threats on state borders, as well as the obligations of border guards require new approaches to ensure border security among our countries.”
Vahid Aliyev noted that the development of Azerbaijan as a democratic state, the establishment of socio-political stability in the country, the enhancement of international cooperation, as well as the security of transport corridors, export pipelines and oil fields in the Caspian Sea made it necessary to make changes at border services, which lead to the establishment of Azerbaijan’s State Border Service: “The leadership of the country fully supports the measures taken towards tightening border security, border integration systems and application of new norms and methods to border control. Only in the last ten years, the Head of State made 19 visits to various units of the Border Service and familiarized himself with the situation in border security. The budget of the border service has been increased by seven times since 2005. Great activities were carried out to create a modern border infrastructure, material and technical base was improved, 1200 apartments, Olympic sports center and rest houses were built and opened. Frontier forces were formed in 2005 to tighten air control and the security of the Caspian Sea. The Academy of the State Border Service was established under the president’s order.”
Then, the participants had several meetings in bilateral format, exchanged views on the questions of mutual concern.
The same day, the attendants have visited the Academy of State Border Service and “Serhedchi” Sport Olympic Center.
The CIS Council of Border Troops Commanders was established in 1992.