Russia, German Defense Ministers Meet on Security CooperationThe Russian-German dialogue on defense and security develops smoothly without artificial delays, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday after talks with his visiting German counterpart Rudolf Scharping.During the talks held in Russia's second biggest city of St. Petersburg, the two ministers discussed a wide rage of issues, including ways to expand military-technical cooperation and possibilities for joint work in the field of security and defense in the Baltic Sea region, the Itar-tass reported. The two ministers attached particular significance to the Baltic Sea region - "a very good example of cooperation in the security sphere in which favorable opportunities have been created for joint steps on ensuring proper defense and security," the Itar- tass quoted Ivanov as saying. Special attention was also paid to the problems in the Kaliningrad region, a Russian enclave enclosed by Poland and Lithuania, in light of the fact that the surrounding Baltic Sea countries are making efforts to join the European Union and NATO, Ivanov said. Ivanov said the sides approved "very intensive plan on cooperation for 2001" and agreed to hold an informal meeting this summer to analyze the implementation of the plans, and if needed, to make some improvement. Scharping said in his part that continuous development of relations between the German and Russian defense ministries "is important for the entire European continent." The year 2001 will see a comprehensive program of cooperation, in particular, "exchanges of officers for training," he said. The German minister said he does not rule out cooperation in the military-technical sphere either, citing the MiG-29 aircraft as an example. The talks between the two defense ministers will be held for two days. On Tuesday, they will report the meeting results to both presidents. |
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