Russia, Pakistan discuss military cooperation

MOSCOW: Chief of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff Gen Valery Gerasimov and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Zubair Hayat met the other day in Moscow to discuss prospects for bilateral military and military-technical cooperation, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

According to foreign media, the two top military exchanged opinions "on issues of regional security, the current state and prospects for bilateral cooperation on the military and military-technical trajectories," the ministry said.

It said Gerasimov had thanked Hayat for the participation of Pakistani teams in the 2018 International Army Games, stressing that they had demonstrated high skills and the will to win. The meeting "confirmed a bid to deepen the dialogue and develop contacts in the defence sector," the ministry said. Earlier the same issues were in the focus of attention when Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin met with the Pakistani leadership during his visit to Pakistan on August 6-7.

According to the defence ministry, the sides agreed to develop cooperation at the first session of the Russian-Pakistani Military Consultative Committee on Defense and Security Issues, in which Fomin took part. "During the visit Col-Gen Fomin held a number of meetings with Pakistan’s military-political leadership. The parties shared their positions on regional security and the state and prospects of bilateral cooperation in the military and military-technical areas," the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

The defence ministry highlighted that "special attention was paid to cooperation in the sphere of military education." "An important result of the first session of the committee was the signing of the framework agreement on admission of servicemen from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan for studies in the military educational institutions of the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation. "A reliable regulatory framework was formed, which enables to organize full-scale education of Pakistani servicemen in Russian military educational institutions," the ministry said.