[25/February/2010]  

MOSCOW, Feb. 25 (Saba) -- President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday met his Lebanese counterpart Michel Suleiman in the Kremlin to consider a potential agreement on military-technical cooperation, Chinese News Agency (Xinhua) has reported.

"We discussed the drafting of a long-term agreement on military-technical cooperation. We proceed from the assumption that the cooperation will see Russia's contribution to the mine clearance operations in Lebanon," Suleiman was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies after talks with Medvedev.

Mikhail Dmitriyev, the head of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, confirmed Russia and Lebanon would soon reach a long-term framework agreement.

Dmitriyev did not specify the date of the document's signing, and said that weapons supplies were not mentioned in the ongoing talks.

Medvedev and Suleiman also signed a joint statement, pledging to step up cooperation on major international issues and expand bilateral ties in military-technical cooperation, energy, investment and tourism.

Saba