Russia and Belarus Discuss Military-Technical Cooperation in Tula

From 29 July to 1 August, Tula, which is called a city of Russian gunsmiths, hosted the 20th meeting of the Belarusian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation. The meeting took place at NPO Splav JSC named in honour of Ganichev and was attended by members of both national parts of the commission, representatives of ministries, departments, organisations, the Union State’s Standing Committee, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and honorary veterans of the commission.
The Governor of the Tula Region, Alexei Dyumin, delivered a welcoming speech before the plenary meeting. He noted that Russia and Belarus are united not only by strong friendship, but also by strong economic ties. He is sure that for the development of the economy of the region, where there are many defence industry companies, bilateral security cooperation is especially significant.
“Cooperation between our countries is aimed at improving the defence capability and security of the Union State. Over the past 10 years, military exports amounted to more than $1 billion. The backlog of orders is $373 million,” said Dmitry Shugaev, Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.
During the meeting, the parties discussed current and future bilateral military-technical cooperation and emphasised mutual interest in its development.
A meeting of the joint working group on the implementation of the bilateral government agreement of 21 April 2005 on the mutual protection of intellectual property rights used and obtained in the course of bilateral military-technical cooperation was held as part of the intergovernmental commission. The participants discussed problematic issues, identified priority areas of activity, signed a number of documents relating to information exchange between parts of the joint working group. They also discussed the procedure for contacting the joint working group on alleged violations of rights.
Following the commission meeting, a memorandum was signed between Belarusian State Authority for Military Industry and the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation concerning the export of military products to third countries.
Roman Golovchenko, head of the Belarusian national part of the commission and Minister of State Authority for Military Industry, and Dmitry Shugaev, Director of the Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation and head of the Russian national part of the commission, signed the final protocol of the intergovernmental commission’s work.