Chen Bingde holds talks with UAE counterpart

 Chen Bingde said that although China and the UAE aregeographically far apart, the two countries, as developing countries,share common interests in many fields. Since the establishment of thediplomatic relations, under the concern of leaders of the two countriesand the common efforts of both sides, the bilateral relations have beenconstantly strengthened and developed, and the two militaries havemaintained close contact and carried out sound cooperation in manyfields, obtaining satisfactory achievements. Chen hoped both sidescould work together to constantly develop and deepen the exchanges andco-operation between the two militaries in a wide range of fields andat a multiple of layers.
　　Rumaithy said that the UAE side appreciated that China had madepositive contributions to the peace and development in Middle East. TheUAE Armed Forces hopes to expand co-operation with the Chinese militaryin various fields including personnel training.
　　Before the talks, Chen Bingde held a welcoming ceremony for Rumaithy.
　　At the invitation of Chen Bingde, Rumaithy came to China for the first time on June 7 to kick off a 3-day-long visit.
　　By Li Xiaowei

Russia and the United Arab Emirates are holding negotiations on modernizing a large number of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles.

Russia and the United Arab Emirates are holding negotiations onmodernizing a large number of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, adefense industry official said on Wednesday.

Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, deputy head of the Federal Service for Militaryand Technical Cooperation, is heading the Russian delegation at ameeting of the Russia-UAE intergovernmental committee for military andtechnical cooperation.
The talks in Abu Dhabi are to focus on the "full modernization of alarge number of BMP-3s in an effort to seriously increase their combatcapability," the Russian official said.
"We have succeeded in this direction," Dzirkaln said.
The infantry fighting vehicles had been earlier supplied to the UAEby Kurganmashzavod, a Russian machine building company based in Kurgan,western Siberia.
The official said that the military officials in the United ArabEmirates have "a good attitude for cooperating with Russia." "ThereforeI make the conclusion that our cooperation has a future."
Dzirkaln also confirmed that Russia will finish deliveringPantsir-S1 short-range air defense systems to the United Arab Emiratesby late 2010.
"This year the delivery will be completed. Two more shipments ofthese vehicles will be delivered and the contract on the delivery willbe fulfilled," he said.
Russian media reports said Moscow had signed a $734-million contractwith the United Arab Emirates in 2000 on purchasing 50 Pantsir-S1s.
Pantsir-S1 is a short-to-medium range combined surface-to-airmissile and antiaircraft artillery system manufactured by theTula-based Instrument Making Design Bureau (KPB).
It is designed to protect point and area targets and carries up to12 two-stage solid-fuel surface-to-air missiles in sealedready-to-launch containers.
The system also has two dual 30 mm automatic cannons that can engage targets at a range of up to 4 km.
The Russian official said it was too early to speak about the prospects of further delivery of Pantsir-S1s to the UAE.
"Further development will consist of providing service maintenanceand continuing training UAE specialists in the aspects of operation,repair and service maintenance," he said.
ABU DHABI, June 2 (RIA Novosti)

hello