The participants have signed a memorandum on the establishment of the CSTO Analytical Association. The document states that the Association is created to enhance the practical information and analysis of interaction and information and analytical capabilities of the CSTO. It is intended for the development of activities and strategies coordinated information policy for the benefit of the members, information and analytical decision support of heads of states - members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, establishing business contacts, exchange of information, expertise and case studies.

The decision to set up the association was made at the first seminar of the heads of information analysis centres of the CSTO member states held on 11 March in Moscow. Members of the association include the Information-Analytical Centre under the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Belarus, the international analytical centre EcooM and the Belaruskaya Dumka Magazine (Minsk, Belarus) affiliated with the BelTA News Agency.

The Analytical Association also includes the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Centre (Moscow, Russia), Russia’s Institute for Strategic Studies (Moscow, Russia), the Political Studies Centre North-South (Moscow, Russia), Smart Internet Foundation (Moscow, Russia), the Institute for International Studies of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (Moscow, Russia), the Institute for Economic Strategies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the International Research Agency Eurasian Monitor (Moscow, Russia), the Saint Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions, the National Centre for Information Response to Terrorism and Extremism in Education and Internet (Rostov-on-Don, Russia), the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the Aegis of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the National Institute for Strategic Studies of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the Institute for Strategic Analysis at the Kyrgyz- Russian Slavic University (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan), the Centre for Strategic Studies of the Republic of Tajikistan (Dushanbe).

The memorandum on the establishment of the association reads that the major objective of the association is to strengthen practical cooperation and capacity of the CSTO. The association will draft coordinated information policy in the interests of the member states, provide information support to decisions of the CSTO heads of state, forge business ties, exchange information, conduct expert and situational analysis. CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha was elected Chairman of the Board of the Analytical Association.