DUSHANBE, March 14, Asia-Plus — Ways to expand military-economic cooperation are on the agenda of a two-day meeting of the interstate commission for military-economic cooperation of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) that opened in the Kazakh capital city of Astana on March 13.
Ziyodullo Nosirov, the head of the defense industry department of the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI), said that Deputy Energy and Industries Minister, Mahmadsharif Haqdodov, has represented Tajikistan at the meeting in Astana.
According to him, the meeting aims to consider draft agreements on cooperation in the field of exploitation, repairing, and modernization of products for military use, as well as preservation of specialization of enterprises and organizations involved in production of products suited for military use. The meeting is also considering issues related to regulations of providing these enterprises with technical legal documents.
The meeting’s agenda also includes consideration of draft documents regulating joint advertising-exhibiting activity of the defense industry’s enterprises of member nations of the CSTO, Nosirov said.
The CSTO interstate commission for military-economic cooperation was set up under the Collective Security Council’s decision of June 23, 2005. The national parts of the commission established by the governments of the CSTO states are headed by ministers and deputy ministers responsible for defense industry.
CSTO members — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – use the organization as a platform for fighting drug trafficking, terrorism, and organized crime, and have pledged to provide immediate military assistance to each other in the event of an attack. The bloc has a Collective Rapid Reaction Force deployed in Central Asia, and is continuing to build up its military forces.
