DUSHANBE, May 18, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has announced holding of the 7th session of the CSTO Interstate Commission for Military-Economic Cooperation.

According to the CSTO Secretariat press service, the meeting that will be held in Minsk, Belarus on May 20 will be attended by the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha.

The commission plans to consider the process of coordination by the CSTO member nations of the following draft documents: the program of military-economic cooperation between the CSTO states for the period till 2015; an agreement on common principles of creation of interstate scientific-productive associations for production of military products; and a protocol on providing technical and informational compatibility of arms and military materiel of the CSTO states.

The commission will also consider election of chairman of the CSTO Interstate Commission for Military-Economic Cooperation for the next three-year term, plan of actions for 2009-2010 and some other organizing issues.

The CSTO is the regional security organization that was initially formed in 1992 for a five-year period by the members of the CIS Collective Security Treaty (CST) -- Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, which were joined by Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Belarus the following year.  A 1994 treaty reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force, and prevented signatories from joining any other military alliances or other groups of states directed against member states.  The CST was then extended for another five-year term in April 1999, and was signed by the presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.  In October 2002, the group was renamed as the CSTO.  Uzbekistan joined the organization in 2006.