A Kremlin source said: "The signing of documents on coordinating military development within the framework of the CSTO until 2010 and its future prospects, the creation of a joint military contingent in Central Asia, the improvement of rapid deployment forces, and the creation of a joint air defense system will make the CSTO military component significantly stronger."
The CSTO comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
"A decision on establishing an interstate committee on military-economic cooperation will also allow us to implement integration processes in the defense industry sphere," the source added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokesperson, Alexander Yakovenko, told RIA Novosti that the CSTO leaders would discuss the situation in Afghanistan and the post-conflict reconstruction there during a regular session of the Collective Security Council (CSC), which is the highest CSTO body.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Wednesday news conference that a meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers had discussed the continuing terrorist and narcotics threat posed by Afghanistan.
Lavrov said the CSC would discuss a plan to set up a working group on CSTO cooperation to counter threats emanating from Afghanistan. According to the Russian minister, the CSC plans to sign an agreement on training CSTO military personnel. "We hope that giving CSTO citizens the opportunity to receive a free military education at military educational institutions in Russia will increase the CSTO's capabilities to repel the external threat," the minister said.
A CSTO spokesman told RIA Novosti that the current CSC session would open with a meeting of the CSTO leaders without their officials. The presidents will later conduct a joint plenary meeting with foreign and defense ministers, and the state secretaries of the security councils of the CSTO member countries.
After the CSTO Charter and the Agreement on the legal status of the CSTO came into force on September 18, 2003, the organization became a fully-fledged international regional organization.
The first session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in the format of an international organization took place in June 2004 in Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan). The CSTO became an observer organization at the UN General Assembly in December 2004.
The presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Tajikistan, and the acting president of Kyrgyzstan will participate in a regular session of the CSTO Collective Security Council.
