The delegation, with the status of observer, comprised Milovan Drecun, Head of the standing delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to CSTO PA, and Jasmina Obradovic, member of the standing delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to CSTO PA.

Milovan Drecun, Head of the standing delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to CSTO PA and member of the CSTO PA Standing Committee on Political Affairs and International Cooperation, took part in the meeting of the CSTO PA Standing Committee on Political Affairs and International Cooperation at the Parliamentary Centre in Saint Petersburg. The meeting focused on a series of organisational issues of the Committee and the members also elected a new Deputy Chairman.

Jasmina Obradovic, member of the CSTO PA Standing Committee on Social-Economic and Legal Affairs, took part in the meeting of the CSTO PA Standing Committee on Social-Economic and Legal Affairs, also at the Parliamentary Centre. The Committee members elected a Deputy Chairman of the CSTO PA Standing Committee on Social-Economic and Legal Affairs and adopted several recommendation drafts.

The standing delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to SCTO Parliamentary Assembly took part in the meeting of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Council at the Tauride Palace as an observer. Milovan Drecun, Head of the standing delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to CSTO PA, represented the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Jasmina Obradovic, member of the standing delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia to CSTO PA, also attended the meeting of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Council. The meeting was opened by the Speaker of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and Russian State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin. The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov presented the priorities of Armenia’s chairmanship of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation in 2016.

The members of the National Assembly’s standing delegation to CSTO PA took part in the eighth plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. Opening the session, the Speaker of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and Russian State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin said that “innocent people have died in horrible terrorist attacks in a great many countries”, and asked the participants to pay respects to all victims of terrorism by a minute of silence. He said that the CSTO member states and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) had discussed joining forces in the fight against terrorism and other kinds of violent extremism. Speaking about the fight against international terrorism, Naryshkin described the Turkish military’s downing of a Russian fighter jet over Syria as “despicable and cowardly organised murder”. As regards the expiration of the three-year term of office of Speaker of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the participants of the plenary session unanimously re-elected Sergey Naryshkin to the function. Speaker Naryshkin informed the Assembly that the Council had endorsed the initiative of the Parliament of South Korea for a meeting of Euro-Asian parliament speakers next year. The key objective of the summit is to reinforce the actions against international terrorism.

The session was attended by the parliamentary delegations of the six CSTO member states – Republic of Belarus, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan. The delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Russia and Belarus, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the lower house of the National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan attended the session as observers. The Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China were guests of the session for the first time.