On November 2, the external meeting of the Standing Committee on Political Affairs and International Cooperation of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly took place in the National Assembly.

RA NA Speaker Alen Simonyan opened the session of the commission. Welcoming the participants of the session, Alen Simonyan, in particular, noted: "In recent years, the chairmanship of the commission has been entrusted to me, and I can confirm that the joint work has been dynamic and constructive. The commission's activity has received a positive dynamic in completing the issues on the agenda for the CSTO member states, which is extremely important for maintaining security and open parliamentary communication."

The Speaker of the RA National Assembly stressed that the Armenian delegation works actively and consistently in the permanent committee and gives expert evaluations to the presented documents. Expressing gratitude for the joint work, he noted that the RA National Assembly proposes the candidacy of NA Vice President Hakob Arshakyan as the chairman of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Committee, expressing hope that those present will support his proposal.

"I am sure that the new chairman of the committee will also act in the spirit of the traditions of the permanent committee established over the decades for the benefit of the development of the parliamentary dialogue and the benefit of our people," the RA NA chairman concluded.

After the agenda of the meeting was approved, the issues of the election of the chairman of the committee and his deputy were discussed. Hakob Arshakyan, deputy chairman of the RA National Assembly, was elected chairman of the committee for a three-year term, and Dmitry Novikov, the first deputy chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, was elected as the deputy chairman.

Hakob Arshakyan gave a speech in the organization regarding implementing the priorities of the RA presidency. The deputy speaker of the National Assembly first thanked the audience for the trust and support shown to him in selecting the committee chairman.

"Our common task is to develop measures to face the challenges and threats arising in the field of international security, as well as to create conditions for ensuring parliamentary interaction in the field of foreign policy and security," he stated.

Hakob Arshakyan spoke in detail about the progress of implementing the priorities of the RA presidency in CSTO for 2021-2022. It was noted that by assuming the presidency, Armenia had prioritized the task of modernizing crisis response mechanisms, monitoring, forecasting, and preventing crises. In this context, Hakob Arshakyan reminded us that the successful and operative peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan at the beginning of the year showed that CSTO is capable. According to him, all the CSTO states have shown unity and solidarity in this case, which should also be expressed towards any other allied state of the organization.

Hakob Arshakyan stated that Armenia pays special attention to the deepening of foreign policy coordination and mutual support to develop coordinated approaches to international and regional issues. Another priority of the Republic of Armenia is further developing CSTO troops. The deputy speaker of the National Assembly emphasized the role of parliamentary interaction in the organization. According to him, there is a need to coordinate legislative work.

According to Hakob Arshakyan, maintaining peace and ensuring international and regional security are the most urgent problems for all humanity. "Against the background of Armenia's constructive intention to regulate relations with Azerbaijan, Baku's provocative actions and belligerent statements do not stop, where threats to use force are replaced by undisguised aggressive ambitions against the sovereign, internationally recognized territory of the Republic of Armenia. Azerbaijan's September military aggression is a gross violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia, disregarding the fundamental norms of international law, with the most unpredictable wide-scale consequences undermining regional security," he added.

In connection with the created situation, the Republic of Armenia appealed to the CSTO by the provisions of Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty, including a request to provide military assistance. In response, an extraordinary session of the Collective Security Council was called, after which a mission was sent to Armenia to monitor and study the situation on the spot.

Referring to the meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Sochi on October 31, he noted that the adopted joint statement confirms the commitment to maintaining all agreements for the benefit of the comprehensive settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, peace, ensuring stability, security and sustainable economic development of the South Caucasus. The parties agreed to make additional efforts to resolve existing problems, including humanitarian ones.

According to Hakob Arshakyan, in the context of preventing new attacks by Azerbaijan, a specific role is assigned to the direct and precise response of international partners to the provocative statements of Baku. "In this context, we call on our partners of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly to respond clearly and concretely to Azerbaijan's aggression, which disrupts peace and security in the South Caucasus. By the way, this was done by several international partners of Armenia, which are not CSTO members. Effective steps are needed to support the efforts of the world community to prevent such actions, as well as the unconditional and complete withdrawal of the armed forces of Azerbaijan from the territory of the Republic of Armenia," said the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.

Andranik Kocharyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Defense and Security Affairs, spoke about the military-political situation in the Caucasus region of the CSTO collective security in his speech. According to him, the military-political situation in the South Caucasus is characterized by a high potential for conflicts and the demonstrative activity of Azerbaijan with the unconditional support of Turkey to increase its influence in the region and exert pressure on Armenia.

The speaker presented the details of the Azerbaijani aggression of September 13, as a result of which the Armenian side had victims, wounded, civilians suffered, and civil infrastructures were damaged. It was emphasized that Azerbaijan openly declares its ambitions toward the sovereign territory of Armenia and is ready to continue military operations. According to Andranik Kocharyan, the decision of the extraordinary session of the Collective Security Council to monitor the situation when there is already an act of aggression against the member state is not the result that was expected from the organization. According to him, there is an impression that the Caucasus region, more precisely, the territory of Armenia, does not have equal strategic importance for the CSTO. In this context, Andranik Kocharyan recalled the successful peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan.

The deputy suggested issuing a political statement condemning the CSTO format, stating that Azerbaijan is the violator of the tripartite declaration and the ceasefire regime and calling it an aggressor. He highlighted the adoption of the decision on the need to take measures by Article 4 of the Treaty and the provision of urgent military-technical assistance to Armenia at the session of the Collective Security Council. Andranik Kocharyan considered it necessary for the CSTO to provide humanitarian aid and return all prisoners of war and other forcibly detained persons.

Eduard Aghajanyan, chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, also presented information at the 29th annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (July 2-6, 2022, Birmingham) at the coordination meeting of the heads of parliamentary delegations of the CSTO member states at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (June 28, 2022, in videoconference format) and about the results of the work of parliamentary delegations of CSTO member states.

As the head of the delegation of the National Assembly of Armenia, he noted that the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia presented some proposals to the Committees on Political Affairs and Security and Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, which, however, were rejected. One of them referred to the issue of prisoners of war, which in 2020 has not been resolved since November 9, although there is a provision to that effect in the tripartite statement. "Different international organizations have touched on it many times, and we see no reason why the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly should refrain from addressing this topic," Eduard Aghajanyan expressed his opinion.

The next question refers to the preservation of cultural heritage, the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group, and its importance.

According to the reporter's assessment, these proposals aimed to draw the attention of the international community and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to the still unresolved issues. It was considered unacceptable to focus the attention of the OSCE PA only on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

"We believe that only with joint efforts the Parliamentary Assembly will strengthen its role as a leading platform for constructive dialogue and discussion of the most urgent security issues in the OSCE region," the commission's chairman stated.

The following issues were related to ratifying signed international agreements, projects on improving legislation in electoral processes and protection of sovereignty in the member states, and regulation of several procedural and organizational issues.

The next regular session of the commission will be held in 2023. in spring: