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Saturday, 06 September 2003

KAZAKHSTAN REJECTS SCO ANTITERRORISM EXERCISES

Published in News Digest

By empty (9/6/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Kazakh Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev told the special session of SCO foreign ministers on 5 September that his country opposes any large-scale antiterrorism military exercises by the SCO on the grounds that the fight against terrorism is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies. The SCO recently held antiterrorism exercises in Kazakhstan and China. Toqaev argued that such activities create a mistaken impression of SCO goals in the world community.
Kazakh Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev told the special session of SCO foreign ministers on 5 September that his country opposes any large-scale antiterrorism military exercises by the SCO on the grounds that the fight against terrorism is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies. The SCO recently held antiterrorism exercises in Kazakhstan and China. Toqaev argued that such activities create a mistaken impression of SCO goals in the world community. He asserted that the struggle against international terrorism, drug trafficking, and other threats to security and stability should be a top priority for the Shanghai group, but efforts should be coordinated through the regional antiterrorism center that is being set up in Tashkent. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)
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