Tajik Defense Minister, Colonel-General Sherali Mirzo, will participate in the 75th meeting of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers that will take place in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, on October 12, according to Tajikistan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD).

An official source at a MoD says the CIS defense ministers are expected to consider about 20 issues.  In particular, they will discuss military cooperation between the CIS member nations, the situation in the Central Asian region and priority tasks to combat international terrorism.

The CIS Executive Committee says the meeting participants will also discuss issues related to implementation of the concept of the Unified System of State Radar Identification, cooperation in military education, joint events to mark the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.  

They will also discuss the prospects for the Unified System for Monitoring and Evaluating Radiation, Chemical and Biological Situations. The focus will also be on cooperation in the field of aviation operations of the armed forces of the CIS countries, implementation of the concept for the Unified System of State Radar Identification, cooperation in military education, joint events to mark the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

The Council reportedly intends to adopt a plan of action for 2019, sign documents aimed at the development of a joint (unified) communications system of the armed forces of the CIS states, information support for the activities of the armed forces for the period up to 2022, cooperation in navigation, topography, geodesy, and metrology.

While in Tashkent, Sherali Mirzo is also expected to hold a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the CIS member nations.

Established in 1992, the Council of Ministers of Defense consists of representatives from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.  It 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.