Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received the participants of the 70th meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States Council of Border Troops' Commanders on September 9.

Welcoming the participants, President Aliyev expressed confidence that important issues of interaction among CIS border services would be discussed at the meeting.

The President emphasized that Azerbaijan is closely involved in various formats within the CIS.

"We attach great significance to our participation in this organization, actively participate in many directions, including in the work of law enforcement bodies, as well as, of course, in the activity of the services [in charge of] maintaining the security of our borders. Interaction among the border services of our countries is of tremendous importance, overall, in the development of cooperation within the CIS and, specifically, in the sphere which you lead. Certainly, interaction with other services generally is mainly focused on the region because the borders of neighboring countries presuppose active cooperation in a bilateral format," the President said.

According to President Aliyev, generally there is positive dynamics of development of the internal processes in the CIS countries, but there is also a threat from the outside.

"Of course, the security of any country is provided including by the security of its borders. And the more reliably these borders are protected, the more our citizens will live in peace and tranquility. Therefore, of course, in Azerbaijan we pay and will pay much attention to the development of the border service. Essentially, it was strated from a scratch, as was the case with practically most of the CIS countries. We had to resolve very important issues pertaining to the logistics, increasing the professionalism, and preparation of staff," President Aliyev said.

The President also said that extensive work has been done in this regard.

"The Academy of Border Service has been established, the logistics is being strengthened, modern bases, townships and posts are being constructed in the most impassable places -- high up in the mountains, in the forests -- in order to provide the security of our country and our neighbors. Of course, there is active interaction with neighboring countries, joint measures, and once in a while, joint operations. All this serves the cause of bolstering regional security," the President said.

According to him, threats are essentially identical.

"The source of threats -- both real and potential -- are practically the same as well. We are linked by large geography, a large region, and it is interconnected with history, cultural relations, economic ties, transport routes. Due to this, undoubtedly, our security will be fully maintained by means of active cooperation," he said.

The agenda of the Baku meeting of the CIS Council, which was held on September 9, included priorities of interaction of border services for providing security at the external borders of the CIS countries as well as in the Central Asia region and the Caspian Sea.

The meeting was focused on the proposals to the CIS leaders on the use of the services of border troops and other organizations for crisis resolution on the outside borders of the CIS countries, as well as providing emergency assistance to Dushanbe to strengthen border security on the Tajik-Afghan border.

Speaking at the meeting, deputy head of the Presidential Administration, defense issues aide to the President, Lieutenant-General Vahid Aliyev said that effective protection of state borders under the conditions of the globalization process and integration of different countries into the international community is currently one of the key measures in ensuring international security.

"Protection of state borders is an effective tool against international terrorism, separatism, cross-border organized crime, illegal migration, smuggling of drugs and components of weapons of mass destruction," Aliyev said.

"All member states present at this meeting face these topical and in many cases tragic problems -- some of them to a lesser extent, some more, but absolutely all. Azerbaijan also faces a problem, which as we believe, is based on separatism, and we live with it right now," Aliyev said at the meeting of the CIS Council of Border Troops' Commanders in Baku.

He said that today, when the world is becoming increasingly smaller and more transparent, "all of us understand that our borders start on our territories".

"People who protect our borders also protect your borders. Our right to a mistake increasingly reduces, and the responsibility grows," Aliyev said further. "International cross-border cooperation gains more significance against this background. Ensuring border security is also one of the priorities of the state security system and serves as a guarantor of stability in the region. Currently, the specificity and nature of threats on state borders as well as the tasks of border guards require new methods and attitudes in the sphere of ensuring border security between our states."

According to the senior official, currently Azerbaijan has a worthy place in the international community and the country's authority in the international arena increases year-on-year.

"Azerbaijan's achievements cover political, economic, geopolitical, energy, cultural and other spheres. As examples, one can cite the holding of the Eurovision international (song) contest, the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, the international humanitarian forum, the World Economic Forum (Davos Forum), 12th ECO summit -- all over the past year and a half. It should be mentioned that Azerbaijan, having been elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the first time in its history, began its activity in this organization from January 1, 2012. Azerbaijan was (also) represented at the event of G20 states in Mexico and at the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul," he said.

As a result of a stable domestic policy, a high rate of economic development, successful social policy and the improving well-being of the population, Azerbaijan has turned into a favorable platform for holding various international events, which is evident in the holding of the meeting of the CIS Council of Border Troops' Commanders in Baku, Aliyev said.

"Azerbaijan's development as a democratic state, stabilization of the socio-political situation within the country, expansion of international cooperation, as well as ensuring the security of transport corridors and export pipelines, and exploitation of oil fields in the Caspian Sea, necessitated fundamental changes in border services, the logical conclusion of which is the creation of a separate State Border Service of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's leadership fully supports the measures aimed at strengthening border security, systems of integration of border control and introduction of new norms and methods of border control. In the past ten years alone, the Head of State visited various units of the country's border service 19 times and became personally familiar with the situation in the area of state border security. The budget of border services has increased seven-fold since 2005," Aliyev said.

According to him, much work has been done to create modern border infrastructure, in particular, the logistics was improved and around 1,200 apartments, the Olympic Sports Center and a holiday center were commissioned.

"Coast Guard units were created at the Caspian Sea in 2005 in order to tighten control from air and ensure border security. Special attention is paid to the issues of improving qualifications of the personnel. Academy of State Border Service was established in accordance with the President's decree," Aliyev said.

During the meeting the participants summarized their activity for 2013 and evaluated the state of the implementation of the Council's objectives.

Furthermore, the 70th meeting of the CIS Council of Border Troops' Commanders adopted a relevant decision on security issues in the Caspian Sea, First Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Security Service, head of the Russian Border Service and chairman of the council, Vladimir Kuleshov, said.

"Security issues in the Caspian Sea were discussed and a relevant decision was passed within the meeting. We are preparing our proposals for the CIS leaders. Currently coordination efforts are underway and experts are working on this issue," Kuleshov said.

He noted that the positions of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia completely concur in their views on ensuring the security in the Caspian Sea.

Kuleshov also said that during the visit to Azerbaijan, the Council delegation visited several sites including the Academy of the State Border Service.

"Currently this institution has a very serious basis for training specialists. I am confident this will allow to increase the professional level of those who serve in the State Border Service and to have a full exchange through institutions," he said.

According to him, the Council's activity since its inception was analyzed and the results of special operations, preventive measures that were jointly undertaken in the Caspian, Black and Azov Seas and on land areas of the border were assessed during the meeting.

The emphasis was also placed on the prospects of joint activity and increasing its efficiency. Around seven issues were examined, 21 decisions adopted on security covering the priorities of activity and the situation in the Central Asian region was assessed.

An agreement to coordinate work on eliminating possible crisis situations on the CIS borders was reached. Joint activities in training personnel were also discussed at the meeting.

The meeting of the CIS Council was held for the third time in Baku and attended by representatives from 10 countries - Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine as well as the Executive Committee and the Antiterrorism Center of the CIS and the Eurasia Economic Community.