DUSHANBE, July 4, 2014, Asia-Plus – A meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS member nations that took place in Astana, Kazakhstan on July 4 reportedly considered some 20 issues related to military and technical cooperation between the CIS member nations.
According to the Kazakh Ministry of Defense (MoD)’s website, the meeting was attended by representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
They reportedly discussed documents on the status of servicemen of the CIS member nations’ armed forces during humanitarian mine clearance operations and exchange views on safety of flights, control and assessment of radiological, chemical and biological situation, priority researches in the field of air defense, joint use of spacecrafts, etc.
The CIS defense ministers also discussed the conceptual approaches of military cooperation within the CIS area until 2020 and review a number of issues related to cooperation in the area of military education.
The meeting resulted in adoption of documents on further expansion of military-and-technical as well as social-and-legal and humanitarian cooperation, the Kazakhs MoD’s website says.
Established on December 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization. It now consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.
The CIS Charter establishes the Council of Ministers of Defense, which is vested with the task of coordinating military cooperation of the CIS member states. To this end, the Council develops conceptual approaches to the questions of military and defense policy of the CIS member states; develops proposals aimed to prevent armed conflicts on the territory of the member states or with their participation; gives expert opinions on draft treaties and agreements related to the questions of defense and military developments; issues related suggestions and proposals to the attention of the CIS Council of the Heads of State. Also important is the Council”s work on approximation of the legal acts in the area of defense and military development.
