CSTO foreign ministers advocate strengthening Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

The CSTO foreign ministers adopted a statement "On the Strengthening of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention", CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas told the media following a meeting of the CSTO Foreign Ministers' Council in Dushanbe, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov told BelTA.

According to Stanislav Zas, the CSTO foreign ministers see the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling 0f Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons as a pillar of the international security architecture. "The foreign ministers emphasized the need to comply and strengthen the BTWC, including by adopting a legally binding protocol to the convention, which would provide an effective mechanism for verifying compliance with the BTWC," Stanislav Zas said. “The document states that the rapid development of science and technology in areas related to the BTWC requires increased attention from the states parties to the convention. The foreign ministers therefore express their support for initiatives submitted in this regard, in particular to establish a scientific advisory committee at the BTWC to analyze scientific and technological advances relevant to the convention and to provide recommendations to states parties and also to set up mobile biomedical units to assist in the investigation of biological weapons use cases and help with the fight against epidemics of various origins."