The heads of security and intelligence agencies in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan took part in the meeting.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues,
Today, you are not simply taking part in the latest of your working meetings, but are marking an anniversary of sorts, as it was 25 years ago that the CIS agreement on cooperation between the security and intelligence agencies in important areas was signed.
This legal base was subsequently strengthened with other agreements in various areas. At any rate, over these years, our countries have established excellent cooperation on the main challenges.
To our regret, we see that the situation has not improved. This is clear in the latest tragic event in St Petersburg, where a terrorist attack killed people and caused many victims.
We know that nearly all of our countries could become potential targets for terrorists. Our countries face many other threats too, including organised crime and drug trafficking, corruption, and the impact of forces acting from outside and attempting in one way or another to influence internal political developments in our countries.
We have very complicated and diverse tasks before us, but I am very pleased to see that our cooperation is well established and developing effectively.
It is a great pleasure to see you all here in Moscow and I wish you welcome. I hope that, as top-class professionals, you understand the importance of your work together and will do everything to ensure that it continues in this spirit.
Welcome!
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