Tajik Defense Minister, Colonel-General Sherali Mirzo, is currently in Beijing to attend the meeting of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that is being held today.
Faridoun Mahmadalizoda, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of Tajikistan, says the heads of defense agencies of Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are exchange views on topical issues of international and regional security.
Russian media reports say the meeting participants are discussing joint measures to consolidate efforts to address adequately the new challenges and threats in the SCO area of responsibility.
The meeting will sum up the results of military cooperation over the past year and discuss promising areas for further cooperation in the defense sector within the framework of the organization.
Before the session, heads of military agencies of the SCO member nations yesterday were received by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The SCO defense ministers are also scheduled to open the 5th "Horn of Peace" military music festival held by SCO countries' military agencies.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have reportedly set up a "Quadrilateral Cooperation and Coordination Mechanism" to jointly combat terrorism. According to some sources, the chiefs of general staffs of the four armed forces met in Urumqi, China, in early August 2016 and announced the formation of the mechanism, which will coordinate efforts on "study and judgment of counter terrorism situation, confirmation of clues, intelligence sharing, anti-terrorist capability building, joint anti-terrorist training and personnel training," according to a joint statement by the four sides.
The SCO, headquartered in Beijing, was founded in 2001. Comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan, the SCO aims at military cooperation between the member states and involves intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism operations in Central Asia and joint work against cyber terrorism.
