Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
CSTO Defense Ministers to meet in Astana on May 3

CSTO Defense Ministers to meet in Astana on May 3

2 May 2012

The Defense Ministers Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will convene in Astana on 3 May, CSTO Press Secretary Vladimir Zainetdinov told ArmInfo.   CSTO Secretary General Nikolay Bordyuzha is expected to make a report at the meeting.

The session will focus on joint measures to advance the military cooperation and the need to step up allied solidarity of the CSTO member states in view of the existing and potential global and regional security problems as well as political and economic pressure.

Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan will inform the CSTO Council of Defense Ministers of the joint exercises "Interactions 2012" to be held at Baghramyan polygon in Armenia on September 3-8.   The topic of the exercises is "Application of the collective security system forces and means in the Caucasus regional of collective security with participation of the CSTO Collective Rapid Response Forces."

The defense ministers will talk over the refitting of the collective rapid response forces with modern armaments, military hardware and special vehicles. They will also discuss future development and improvement of these forces, military technical and military economic cooperation, and the ways to improve the training of military personnel for the armed forces of the CSTO member states.   

After the session the CSTO defense ministers will take part in the opening of the international armaments and military hardware expo KADEX 2012, which will take place in Kazakhstan for the second time.   Afterwards, the defense ministers will meet with the president of Kazakhstan.

In May 2012 CSTO will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 10th Anniversary of the Organization. The members of the CSTO that was established on the basis of the Collective Security Treaty signed on May 15 1992 are Russia, Armenia. Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrghyzstan.

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
"Peace Bridge" between Armenia and Azerbaijan takes next step
Trending

"Peace Bridge" between Armenia and Azerbaijan takes next step

11 April 2026
From 10 to 12 April 2026, within the framework of the “Peace Bridge” Initiative, another bilateral roundtable with the participation of representatives of Azerbaijani and Armenian civil society is taking place, this time in Azerbaijan. "Peace Bridge" was launched in November 2025 with the support of the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan, to foster dialogue and direct engagement between civil society representatives from Azerbaijan and Armenia. On Friday, 10 April, an Armenian group arrived in Azerbaijan via the land border, crossing through a formally delimited and demarcated section and undergoing all relevant border and passport control procedures.  According to the website of the Armenian public broadcaster, 1lurer.am, this weekend's meeting  includes discussions on the current state of the peace process; the activities undertaken by participants in the “Peace Bridge” Initiative in their respective countries and the results of those efforts; as well as the situation in the region. The meeting agenda also includes separate sessions devoted to efforts to advance peace at the societal level and to increase trust during the next stages of the peace process. (click picture to read the news item in full)

Popular

Editor's choice
Interview
Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov
Trending

Thursday Interview: Murad Muradov

15 January 2026
Today, commonspace.eu starts a new regular weekly series. THURSDAY INTERVIEW, conducted by Lauri Nikulainen, will host  persons who are thinkers, opinion shapers, and implementors in their countries and spheres. We start the series with an interview with Murad Muradov, a leading person in Azerbaijan's think tank community. He is also the first co-chair of the Action Committee for a new Armenian-Azerbaijani Dialogue. Last September he made history by being the first Azerbaijani civil society activist to visit Armenia after the 44 day war, and the start of the peace process. Speaking about this visit Murad Muradov said: "My experience was largely positive. My negative expectations luckily didn’t play out. The discussions were respectful, the panel format bringing together experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey was particularly valuable during the NATO Rose-Roth Seminar in Yerevan, and media coverage, while varied in tone, remained largely constructive. Some media outlets though attempted to represent me as more of a government mouthpiece than an independent expert, which was totally misleading.  Overall, I see these initiatives as important steps in rebuilding trust and normalising professional engagement. The fact that soon a larger Azerbaijani civil society visits to Armenia followed, reinforces the sense that this process is moving in the right direction." (click the image to read the interview in full)
Murad Muradov
Lauri Nikulainen interviews Murad Muradov