CIS Council of Defense Ministers discusses joint business plan

/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

The regular 69th meeting of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers kicked off on December 23 in Moscow where the Council is drafting a joint business plan for the upcoming year.

The meeting will decide on the development of the joint air defense system, the expansion of cooperation in the field of humanitarian demining and training of military personnel.

The event will be attended by the heads of the military departments of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Armenia, and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the CIS Executive Committee and the Secretariat of the Council of Defense Ministers of CIS member states.

It is planned to sum up the implementation of the Concept of military cooperation of CIS member states till 2015 and joint business plan for 2016, the Russian defense Ministry announced.

Following the meeting, decisions will be made on the development of the joint air defense system, communications system, expansion of cooperation in the field of humanitarian demining, training of military personnel, joint activities of operational and combat training, as well as military and sports events in the CIS format.

More than twenty issues in various areas of cooperation of the defense ministries will be discussed at the meeting.

Azerbaijan has close bilateral military cooperation with Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.

CIS states are also preparing for the upcoming 25th anniversary of the organization, which is celebrated in 2016.

The Council of Defense Ministers of the CIS member-states was established in 1992. Representatives from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attend the regular meetings of the council.

The council coordinates the military cooperation of the CIS states, reviews conceptual approaches to military policy and military building, as well as develops proposals on the efforts directed to prevent the armed conflicts.