DUSHANBE, March 10, 2009, Asia-Plus — Experts from member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will gather in Moscow tomorrow for two-day consultations on military-technical and military-economic cooperation within the Organization, according to the CSTO press service.
The experts are expected to consider the member nations’ positions over draft documents that will lay foundation of military-economic cooperation between the CSTO states.
The meeting participants will also discuss proposals made by member nations to the draft agreements on preservation of specialization of enterprises and organizations involving in production of military products, general principles of the establishment of interstate scientific-production associations for production of military products, and cooperation between the CSTO states on transit of military cargo in the interest of military-technical and military-economic cooperation, transportation of special cargo, the press service said.
They will also consider proposals to the draft program for military-economic cooperation designed for the period until 2015 and the draft protocol on ensuring technical and informational compatibility of arms and military equipment of the CSTO states.
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 Organization in 2006
