Military-Technical Cooperation with Qatar Continues

Military-technical cooperation between Qatar and Russia continues to grow, Qatar is comprehensively considering cooperation with Russia in terms of weapons systems. This was announced by the ambassador of Qatar to Russia, Sheikh Ahmed bin Nasser bin Jasim Al Thani, in an interview with Kommersant.

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Qatar's ambassador to Moscow, the former head of Qatar's military intelligence, is heading the preparations for the visit of Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Russia, who will lead Qatar's delegation to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF)

In his interview with Kommersant, the Ambassador said that Qatar and Russia are working together in several areas of military-technical cooperation, especially regarding personnel training.

"We have many areas of military cooperation, in particular in the field of personnel training, and there are corresponding agreements in this area. Military cooperation continues to develop," he said.

On the matter of purchasing the Russian air defence system S-400, the Qatari Ambassador noted that so far "there is no progress on this issue, but Qatar is comprehensively considering issues related to cooperation with Russia on weapons systems."

He added that agreements in the military field, are not only about contracts for the supply of weapons, but about agreements of a legal, principled nature, noting that "some of them have already been signed, and on some the necessary work is underway to prepare them for signing."

According to Sheikh Ahmed bin Nasser bin Jasim Al Thani, representatives of the armed forces of the State of Qatar, including a large number of officers, will arrive to Russia in August, where they will take part in joint training with the Russian Armed Forces and in the International ARMY Games 2021. 

Qatar was one of many countries that had expressed their desire to hold a number of the International ARMY Games 2021 competitions on their territories.

On the matter of security cooperation between Russia and Qatar, the Ambassador said that relations between the state of Qatar and the Russian Federation are constantly evolving.

"We started with economic cooperation. Then we added security cooperation, as well as military cooperation. Our relationship is transparent. Contacts between the special services are getting stronger. There is close active and positive cooperation between all security services of the two countries."- he commented.

An agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the State of Qatar on military-technical cooperation was signed on 25 October  2017, and entered into force on 18 June 2019 for a five-year term). The agreement is automatically renewed if none of its parties declares their intention to withdraw from this agreement.

The agreement includes the supply and repair of weapons and equipment, cooperation in the development of military equipment and the training of technical and military specialists. Under the terms of this agreement, the resale of weapons to third countries is prohibited without the consent of the producing country. The supplying party has the right to control the use of military equipment.

 

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