BISHKEK, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) met Monday in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, to discuss regional and international security issues, according to the press service of the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry.

Foreign ministers of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, as well as the CSTO secretary general, met together focusing on international and regional security, and the coordination of foreign policy activities of the member states within the CSTO.

Particular attention was paid to the situation in the CSTO area of responsibility, strengthening collective approaches to countering external threats, as well as interaction with other international organizations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Jeenbek Kulubaev emphasized the importance of consolidating the efforts of the CSTO member states against the backdrop of growing global challenges, and stressed the commitment of the Kyrgyz Republic to the principles of collective security, equal dialogue and respect for sovereignty.

Kulubaev noted that the Kyrgyz side attaches particular importance to the issues of strengthening trust between the states of the region, expanding multilateral diplomacy, as well as the active participation of the CSTO in resolving crisis situations exclusively by peaceful means.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented Russia's approaches to key issues on the international agenda, confirming the invariability of the course toward strengthening the CSTO's potential, and also proposed a number of initiatives to improve the activities of the organization and its working bodies, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The meeting saw the signing of a number of documents including statements on countering radicalization, which leads to terrorism and extremism, on international information security, on the United Nations Regional Centre for Sustainable Development Goals for Central Asia and Afghanistan, and on addressing the situation in the Middle East. Enditem