DUSHANBE, June 4, 3012, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik Minister of Defense, Sherali Khairulloyev, today morning left for Minsk, Belarus to attend a meeting of the CIS Council of Ministers of Defense that is taking place there on Wednesday, June 5.

“While in Minsk, Khairulloyev is also scheduled to hold meetings with his counterparts from a number of the CIS member nations,” Faridoun Mahmadaliyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD), told Asia-Plus in an interview.

Meanwhile, the CIS Executive Committee says the CIS defense ministers are expected to discuss more than 20 issues related to further improvement of the system of multilateral military cooperation within the CIS area.

Russian Defense Minister, General of the Army Sergey Shoigu, will preside over the 64th session of the CIS Council of Minister of Defense that is expected to be attended by delegations from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, as well as representatives of the CIS Executive Committee and the Warriors-Internationalists Affairs Committee at the CIS Council of Heads of Government.

The CIS Charter establishes the Council of Ministers of Defense, which 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.

An important manifestation of integration processes in the area of military and defense collaboration of the CIS member states is the creation of the joint CIS Air Defense System in 1995.

Established on December 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization.  It now consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.  Georgia pulled out of the organization in 2009.