Member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) plan to increase military cooperation.  

A meeting of dense ministers from the SCO and CIS member nations took place in Moscow on December 9.  Chinese Defense Minister Colonel-General Wei Fenghe attended the meeting through video conferencing.

The press center of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation says defense ministers from nine countries have arrived in Moscow to attend the meeting.

Russian media reports say the ministers discussed international and regional security and further strengthening of cooperation in the areas of defense and security. 

TASS cited Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu as saying that CIS and SCO member nations plan to expand military cooperation.  

"The need to expand military cooperation within SCO and CIS, strengthen mutual trust and build close ties with other interested organizations has been stressed," Shoigu said.

The defense minister reportedly also said the meeting participants agreed that it would be advisable to improve the mechanism of exchanging security-related information and regularly hold operational and combat training events to practice efforts to counter new tactical ploys used by international terrorists.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency says Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu in August suggested the idea of holding a joint meeting of defense ministers from the SCO and CIS members and other friendly countries in order to discuss security matters.