YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan is convinced that Armenia has sufficient human resources potential for occupying the position of CSTO Secretary General until the term’s completion.

“At the same time, the following issues lie at the basis of the matter: First, the normative base does not envisage concrete decision for solving issues in the event when a secretary general is incapacitated. Second, decisions are made through a consensus, third, for us the organization’s reputation, efficiency and vitality are of extremely important significance. As a CSTO member, we are interested in the prospect of having a strong organization and we are having our contribution in this issue,” Mnatsakanyan told TASS in an interview.

Mnatsakanyan noted that Armenia began the process of removing Yuri Khachaturov as CSTO Secretary General because legal issue of domestic nature exist concerning him. “We did it for the reason of separating the organization from our domestic issues from the very beginning,” he said.

The caretaker FM stressed that the Armenian side’s approach seeks ensuring the general functionality of the organization and strengthening of consolidation between all six member states, in a broad sense.

Asked whether or not Armenia has been deprived of the chance to re-nominate its candidate as the new Secretary General and whether such a decision has been adopted, Mnatsakanyan said that no such decision has been made, emphasizing that the organization consists of six equal members and decisions are made through consensus.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan