Taking part in the conference will be the defense chiefs of Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

SCO military experts regularly meet for consultations. However, it is the fist such meeting at the head of the Russian state’s: Medvedev is convening the conference as incumbent SCO chairman. The meeting might become a starting point for new practice of the "Shanghai Six."

A Kremlin administration official told Itar Tass that "the Russian president is expected to discuss with the SCO ministers the issues related to the prospects for the development of the organization and the boosting its role in ensuring regional stability and security."

The Kremlin is convinced that the "cooperation between defense ministries is an important direction in SCO’s activities. It is oriented towards contribution to the implementation of the SCO concept of cooperation in combating terrorism, separatism and extremism, the introduction of confidence-building mechanisms in the military field, and the enhancing of the predictability and transparency of military activity," the Kremlin official said.

He underlined that "by stepping up the collective efforts in counteracting modern challenges and threats, the SCO countries and their defense ministries are not striving to create a military bloc. This cooperation within SCO by no means is aimed against other states," he assured.