DUSHANBE, November 19, 2008, Asia-Plus — The next meeting of the council of defense ministers of member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will be held in Yerevan, Armenia on November 28.
The source at the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that defense ministers of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are supposed to discuss ways of development of the CSTO Rapid Deployment Force based in Central Asia.
The meeting will also discuss issues related to state and prospects of further development and integration of air-defense forces of the CSTO states.
The CSTO defense ministers are also expected to consider joint actions on operational and battle training of management bodies, formation of means and forces of the collective security system for 2010-2014 as well as the plan of work of the council of the CSTO defense ministers for 2009, the MoD source said.
The regional security organization was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) — Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year. A 1994 treaty “reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force,” and prevented signatories from joining any “other military alliances or other groups of states” directed against members states. The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO. Uzbekistan joined the CSTO in 2006.
