YEREVAN, DECEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. According to acting Prime Minister of Armenia the nature of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is more important than the issue of its Secretary General. ARMENPRESS reports answering the question of a reporter why he has not met with Stanislav Zas when he has visited to all the CSTO member states.

“We have not rejected. We have said that in this stage it’s not expedient for us. The discussions are underway”, Pashinyan said.

He added that Armenia has always said that the issue has to be solved by consensus.

“I have said in the past as well. The position of the CSTO Secretary General is not designated eternally for Armenia. It’s based on the principle of rotation and our term has to be finished at some point. For us the issue is not the position of the Secretary General, for us the nature of the CSTO is an issue and as I have said in the past for us it’s important that the mutual obligations between the member states are clarified and reaching a consensus on this issue. There was time when the rotation principle was not applied in the CSTO and the same person was a Secretary General for long years”, Pashinyan said, reiterating that the position of the Secretary General is not pivotal.

“Frankly speaking, I am satisfied with the discussions we had during this period, because they were very open and sincere discussions, something that had never happened in the CSTO. And we, comprehending our security environment, should ask ourselves a question “Should we take the CST for serious or no”. This is an important point and of course we will discuss those issues”, Pashinyan said.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan