MOSCOW. Nov 30 (Interfax-AVN) - The defense ministers of CIS countries at their Wednesday meeting in Moscow are discussing defense and military-technical cooperation and peacekeeping operations throughout the Commonwealth.
Opening the meeting, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that for the first time the General Staff Academy is hosting the meeting.
"Several CIS defense ministers have studied here at different times," he said.
There are some 20 items on the agenda for the meeting, which is closed to the press, an Interfax-Military News Agency correspondent reports. The ministers are expected to discuss the status of peacekeeping forces in the CIS, matters related to the further development of the joint air defense system and also the settlement of possible incidents involving military aircraft of CIS countries.
The ministers will also mull changes in the executive and working bodies of the Council of Defense Ministers, in particular the closure of the headquarters for coordinating military cooperation.
The meeting is being attended by the defense ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine as well as official representatives of the defense ministries of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Georgia, Moldova and Turkmenistan are not represented.