MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The military cooperation plan of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) for the period until 2010 is the main issue on the agenda of the CSTO Defense Ministers Council session that started in Moscow on Thursday.
"We will have to focus on the most acute issues of CSTO practical activity and development under conditions of current threats and challenges. In this connection, we will discuss the plan of the Organization's military component covering the period until 2010," Kazakh Defense Minister Mukhtar Altynbayev, who chairs the session, said at its opening.
The issues include improvement of the legal foundation for functioning of the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces, training of military personnel in higher educational establishments of the Russian Defense Ministry and other CSTO member nations, the agreement on the terms of stationing of the CSTO Unified HQ in Russia and organization of its activity, Altynbayev said.
"Improvement of the military-economic cooperation mechanism in the Organization's framework and prospective planning of the OSCE military component are important issues, too," he stressed.
The session agenda comprises over 10 issues related to strengthening of collective security in the CSTO framework. The defense ministers of all CSTO member nations are present at the event.
The CSTO Defense Ministers Council is a consultative and executive body of the Organization which coordinates interaction between member nations in military policy, army development, and military-technical cooperation.
The CSTO currently brings together Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.