BAMAKO, Mali. Feb 7 (Interfax) - Russia has supplied two batches of aviation equipment to Mali in recent months for fighting terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"Cooperation in military and military-technical areas was given a fresh impetus literally last year and at the beginning of this year. A large batch of Russian aviation equipment was supplied, which enabled the Mali National Army to carry out successful operations against terrorists in recent times," Lavrov said at a press conference in Bamako on Tuesday.
"The second batch of aviation equipment was supplied for the aforesaid purposes recently, on January 19," he said.
As to what else can be done for strengthening Mali's security through military-technical cooperation with Russia, Lavrov said that the latest deliveries of aviation equipment were "very large" and substantially enhanced the Mali Air Force's capacities.
According to him, Russia and Mali are exploring additional steps in military education and "supplies of weapons and military hardware."
Moscow will be supporting Mali "in bolstering the combat capacity of the Armed Forces" and training servicemen and law enforcement officers, Lavrov said.
"Our friends in Mali have specific requests in this area, and they are being gradually met," he said.
Lavrov also called for broadening economic relations with Mali.
"We are continuing humanitarian assistance to Mali, in particular, on the bilateral basis. Hopefully, the deliveries of wheat, fertilizers, petroleum products and other strategic commodities will begin shortly," he said.
According to Lavrov, the bilateral trade turnover has been growing "quite fast," including by more than 20% last year. "Yet, the absolute numbers are not quite impressive, that's our common opinion. We have agreed that mineral development, geological prospecting, transport and other infrastructure, and agriculture are promising areas for the application of our efforts," he said.