The participants in the meeting discussed a broad range of issues concerning multilateral cooperation. "In particular, we coordinated draft documents prepared in accordance with the decisions of the previous CSTO session on June 18, 2004 in Astana (Kazakhstan) as well as documents that will be submitted to the next CSTO session on June 23 in Moscow," Ivanov said.
According to him, the main focus was on documents that in the next five years would regulate the practical interaction of the CSTO members in such important spheres as "the military development of the coalition, military-technical cooperation, and the formation and development of collective security system."
Ivanov said that the participants in the session paid particular attention to the military component of the organization. Above all, that concerned the formation of a collective security combined force in the central Asian region and the development of a CSTO air defenses.
According to the minister, the participants also discussed the formation of a number of combined military systems within the framework of the organization, such as systems of combat readiness, operational planning, control, information and reconnaissance, air defense, and logistical and technical support.
Ivanov said the participants also discussed the optimization of a control system for the rapid deployment forces in Central Asia and improvements to the legal base regulating its work. Issues on planning joint events for the CSTO member states on operational and combat readiness for 2006 were discussed at the session as well.
The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
