RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER MET WITH THE HEAD OF IRANIAN MILITARY DEPARTMENT








MOSCOW, March 14. /From RIA Novosti correspondent/. Russian defence minister Igor Sergeyev held the second, in the course of three days, meeting with head of the Iranian military department, vice-admiral Ali Shamkhani. RIA Novosti received this information on Wednesday from a spokesman for the Russian defence ministry.


	According to him, "the meeting was of a confidential character". Just as on Monday, when the first meeting of the ministers was held, mass media representatives were not invited at the request of the Iranian side. Although it was planned earlier that Igor Sergeyev will hold one-on-one meeting with Ali Shamkhani, members of the delegations took part in it.


	During the meeting the sides discussed questions pertaining to bilateral military and military-technical cooperation. No documents stipulating the deliveries of Russian weapons and military hardware to Iran were signed.


	The ministers decided to instruct the expert working groups of Russian and Iranian military departments to prepare the draft of a new agreement on military-technical cooperation which will provide for deliveries of Russian weapons and military hardware to Iran and which, possibly, will be signed during the forthcoming visit of Ali Shakhmani to Russia scheduled for May of this year, a spokesman for the defence ministry reported.


	He also said that the ministers exchanged opinions on the situation in Central Asia taking into account the threat for the national security of Russia and Iran coming from Afghanistan, and considered the ways of joint struggle against international terrorism, extremism and illegal drug trafficking.


	In addition, questions were discussed pertaining to strengthening the regime of the non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons, their delivery vehicles and missile technologies, as well as to the anti-missile defence systems, strategic offensive weapons  and NATO expansion to the east.