DUSHANBE, March 18, 2014, Asia-Plus -- The next meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Defense Ministers will take place from April 1-3 in the Tajik northern city of Khujand, according to the Ministry of Defense (MoD) of Tajikistan.

An official source at a MoD says the meeting that will be presided over by Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Mirzo will discuss issues related to military and technical cooperation between the SCO member nations and the SCO a of the SCO Council of Defense Ministers that will take place in Dushanbe from April 1-3nti-terrorism exercise that will be conducted this year in China.

“To-date, Russia and China have confirmed their participation in the meeting and noted that their delegations will be led by defense ministers.

We will recall that heads the international military cooperation departments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) defense ministries met in Khujand (Sughd province) on March 13 to discuss cooperation issues.  The Khujand meeting reportedly ended with signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation.