Russia, Mali pledge to develop military cooperation

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The Russian and Malian foreign ministers confirmed on Wednesday their mutual stance on further strengthening military cooperation.

Russia will continue training of Mali's military personnel, deliveries of weapons and military equipment to the African country, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following a meeting with his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop in Moscow.

Russia will also continue to provide support to the countries of the Sahara-Sahel zone aimed at resolving existing regional problems, Lavrov said.

The minister emphasized that Moscow is ready to assist all countries in the region in the formats and to the extent that will be most optimal for them and that will not contradict their interests.

"We have always supported the formula 'African problems - African solutions.' If no one interferes, we are almost sure that the countries of the Sahara-Sahel zone will be able to agree among themselves on the principles of good neighborliness," he said.

Apart from the military cooperation, Russia and Mali are developing economic ties and the first meeting of the working group on economic cooperation will be held in April, he said.

"The process is taking up pace. We want to accelerate it, because the trade and economic turnover between our countries does not correspond to either the potential or our mutual interests," he stressed.

For his part, Diop said cooperation with Russia has contributed to ensuring his country's security, Mali's military potential has been strengthened, and authorities "see tangible results."

"We are glad that Russia is providing training for our specialists, but we need to diversify (ties), in particular, in economy. Good trade and economic cooperation should correspond to good relations," he said.