MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov is expected to hold talks soon in Moscow with several of his counterparts from other countries.
Military diplomats told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday that Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes is expected to arrive in Moscow on April 10 for an official visit.
The two defense ministers are expected to discuss issues of regional security and the fight against international terrorism, the progress of the anti-terrorist operation in Afghanistan, as well as the state and prospects for cooperation between the two countries' defense ministries.
In addition, Fernandes is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Minister of Industry, Science and Technologies Ilya Klebanov. He will leave Moscow on April 12.
Bilateral military-technical cooperation will top the agenda of the meetings, the sources said.
On April 11, Ivanov is expected to hold talks in Moscow with his Swedish counterpart Bjorn Von Sydow. In addition to cooperation between the two countries' defense ministries, the ministers are expected to discuss security issues of Northern Europe and Europe as a whole.
The military diplomats have said that Brazilian Defense Minister Geraldo Magela Quintao is scheduled to pay a visit to Moscow next week.
They said the upcoming meetings with Russian military and political authorities will focus on military-technical cooperation.
Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso discussed possibilities of joint work in the sphere of military and civil aviation during his visit to Moscow in January 2002.
"Brazil is a promising market for sales of Russian arms and hardware. It is a complicated market that is crowded with other arms makers," one of the diplomats said.
According to him, "Brazil may be interested in SU-27 Flanker and MIG-29 Fulcrum type military planes, as well as in Russian S- 300 surface-to-air systems."