Azerbaijani Defense Minister meets with counterparts in Moscow
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijan`s Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov has held a number of bilateral meetings with his Russian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Belarus and Ukrainian counterparts in Russia.
The meetings were held on the sidelines of the 65th meeting of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers in Moscow.
Hasanov and Russian defense minister Sergey Shoygu discussed the completion of the Gabala radar station handover to Azerbaijan.
Hasanov said the handover of the radar station was conducted without problem and all current issues are resolved or almost solved.
The agreement on the status, principles and operating conditions of the Gabala radar station between the governments of Azerbaijan and Russia expired on December 9, 2012, with the latter sending a note halting the operation of the radar station on December 10.
The Gabala radar station located in north-west Azerbaijan was built during the Soviet period as one of the most important elements of the USSR's missile defense system. After Azerbaijan gained independence the radar station became the country's property and Russia continued to use it.
Hasanov expressed confidence that other issues of bilateral cooperation between military bodies of Azerbaijan and Russia will be resolved.
He said the historical relations between the two countries had been developing.
Shoygu congratulated Hasanov on his appointment as defense minister of Azerbaijan and wished success to his colleague in strengthening national armed forces and military cooperation between the two countries.
During the meeting, they also signed a bilateral cooperation plan for 2014 between the defense ministries of Azerbaijan and Russia.
The meeting of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers discussed the activities of the Council`s working bodies in 2013, cooperation in geospatial data sharing, monitoring the application of national identification means in the armed forces, the order of collecting and sharing information on aviation technology defects, and cooperation in issues related to modernization and maintenance of engineer equipment, supplies of component parts.
The defense ministers also discussed the organization of the Olympiad among military educational institutions of the CIS Defense Ministries, tournaments as part of the 11th Military Spartakiada Games in 2014 and the organization of the CIS Training Center in International Security.
Participants of the meeting outlined joint events of the CIS united air defense system in 2014.