Moscow and Cairo have agreed to step up preparations of documents on military-technical cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting within the 2+2 format on Thursday.
The intergovernmental commission on cooperation is planning to gather at the end of March, Lavrov said.
“Military cooperation between Russia and Egypt should have a practical and firm legal base,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said upon completion of the meeting.
Russia attaches much significance to relations with Egypt, which is the key country in the region. “We have rich experience within the defence ministries. We’re satisfied with our partnership,” the Russian minister said.
The meeting between Shoigu and Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi confirmed both countries’ intention to strengthen military relations. “This is conditioned by common challenges and threats for our countries and the fight against terrorism is the priority one,” Shoigu said, adding that the countries would work jointly to prevent weapons of mass destruction to fall in the hands of terrorists.”
The minister said the results of the talks with the Egyptian defence minister revealed the commonness of views on regional and global security. “We are unanimous that military cooperation should be based on practical approaches and contribute to the armed forces’ defence capacity,” he said.
During the meeting, the parties discussed concrete measures of mutual interest, such as projects on exchanging delegations, holding joint exercises and training Egyptian servicemen in the Russian Defence Ministry’s military schools. “We considered ways to discuss interaction between the Navies and the Air Forces of both countries,” he said.
The defence minister also said a firm legal base should be created for this purpose. “So, we discussed a possibility to prepare agreements on strengthening military and military-technical cooperation,” Shoigu said.
http://indrus.in/news/2014/02/13/russia_egypt_to_step_up_preparations_for_military-technical_cooperation__33073.html
