BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/04/2008

Russia, Belarus stepping up mil cooperation - defense minister

MINSK, April 30 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and Belarus have been stepping up military cooperation, including with the view of ensuring the general security of the Union State, Belarussian Defense Minister Col-Gen Leonid Maltsev said at a meeting with his Russian colleague Anatoly Serdyukov on Wednesday.

"I'm glad to welcome you at the Defense Ministry of the Republic of Belarus. I wish to note with satisfaction that our relations in the military field have been developing successfully," Maltsev told Serdyukov.

On Tuesday, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko offered a similar evaluation of bilateral relations, at a meeting with the visiting Russian minister.

"We've passed from general issues, such as the drawing of legal groundwork, to concrete ones - solutions on the regional group of troops, unified air defense system, personnel training and military-technical cooperation," Maltsev said.

The emerging problems dictate the necessity of continuous joint interaction in many fields between Russia and Belarus.

"I'm convinced your visit will be the next step toward developing this interaction for successful fulfillment of the tasks facing the Union State, including in ensuring the military security of both Russia and Belarus," the Belarussian minister noted.

Serdyukov thanked him for the warm reception.

"We're very glad of this meeting. It gives an opportunity to discuss the issues which our ministries are facing. I absolutely agree with you; we don't have problems which we wouldn't be able to resolve on our own," he added.

The Russian minister expressed the hope that the Wednesday meeting between Russian and Belarussian military officials would yield fruitful results and that the parties would sign the agreement as planned.

"Hopefully, we'll continue to work fruitfully in the future," the Russian defense minister said.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12636885&PageNum=0

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