DUSHANBE, November 12, 2014, Asia-Plus – Further expansion of mutually beneficial military cooperation was a major topic of the 67th session of the Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS member nations that took place in Moscow on November 11.
Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General Sherali Mirzo, represented Tajikistan at the meeting.
Representatives of eight CIS member nations, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives from the CIS Executive Committee, CIS Anti-Terrorism Center, Coordinating Service of the CIS Council of Border Troops Commanders and Russia’s Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences participated in the meeting.
According to the press center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the meeting discussed more than twenty issues related to cooperation between the armed forces of the CIS nations.
The meeting participants, in particular, discussed the results of the work of the Council of Defense Ministers in 2014 and determined the Council’s tasks for 2015. They also discussed cooperation on exchange of geospatial information, methodological recommendations on assessment of radiation, chemical and biological situation, etc.
Speaking at the meeting, Russian Minister of Defense, Sergey Shoygu, noted that joint military exercises, dubbed Boyevoye Sodruzhestvo 2015 (Combat Commonwealth 2015), would take place at the Ashuluk training ground in August-September.
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.
