MINSK, September 9. /TASS/. A plan for arming the Collective Rapid Reaction Force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be submitted to the CSTO heads of state for consideration at a meeting in Dushanbe on September 16, CSTO Deputy Secretary-General Valery Semerikov told the media on Thursday.
"It is very important for us to focus on the implementation of a plan for arming the Collective Rapid Reaction Force with advanced types of weapons and other military hardware. We have an agreed plan, approved by the defense ministers and Security Council secretaries. On September 16, it will be submitted to the heads of state for approval," Semerikov said.
He recalled that at an early session of the Collective Security Council on August 23 the heads of state "held a thorough discussion and issued instructions to formulate proposals for neutralizing the threat that comes from the territory of Afghanistan."
"Among other things they discussed steps to forestall a likely influx of refugees from Afghanistan," Semerikov said.
"All these issues were reflected in the list of measures that we will report to the defense ministers, foreign minister, and Security Council chiefs on September 15-16 . When they are through with examining it, we will present it to the heads of state," Semerikov said.
For his part, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov expressed the hope that the CSTO heads of state at their meeting in Dushanbe will put signatures to a treaty on equipping the collective force with advanced armaments and vehicles.
"There has been major progress in terms of equipping the CSTO collective security force, and I hope that it will be signed at the September 16 meeting of the heads of state," Borisov told the media following a session of the CSTO inter-state commission for military-economic cooperation.
"We signed a number of important documents that will promote integration and joint action by our countries in the field of maintaining collective security. The situation is very acute in the light of the well-known developments in Central Asia," Borisov stated.
He added that the next meeting of the CSTO interstate commission for military-economic cooperation would be held in Moscow.