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Russia, Sri Lanka sign military co-operation treaty

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2004, 11:23 GMT]
Russia and Sri Lanka signed a military technical co-operation treaty in Colombo Friday, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence said Friday. The agreement will entail exchange of military expertise, supply of military hardware required by the Sri Lankan military and training, according to a MoD statement in Colombo Friday.

The treaty was signed Friday morning at Sri Lanka's MoD in Colombo by Mr. D. S Herath, secretary of defence and Mr. Mikhail Dimitriev, the Russian Federation's deputy minister of Defence.

The treaty follows the visit of a Russian military team to Jaffna last month.

The Russian military officers and experts toured the peninsula for more than a week to study and assess the Sri Lankan armed forces' needs.