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NATO/Russia Joint Helicopter Maintenance Fund
NATO and Russia have agreed to establish a Helicopter Maintenance Trust Fund for Afghan troops, with Germany as the lead country, officials said after the two-day NATO foreign minister meeting Friday.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a closing press conference that the foreign ministers from Russia and NATO declared the fund in the meeting of NATO-Russia Council held during NATO's Berlin talks.
"This is good news for the NATO-Russia Council - we are tackling together the challenge of stabilizing Afghanistan," he said. "But most importantly, this is good news for Afghanistan. Its forces will benefit from this valuable equipment to improve the security of Afghan citizens."
In the opening remarks of the meeting, Rasmussen told ministers that the fund project will "provide training, spare parts and tool kits for three squadrons of Afghan helicopters," which was a tangible achievement for the NATO-Russia cooperation and can help bring peace and stability to the war-torn Afghanistan.
Some diplomatic sources told German Press Agency dpa that Russia is to contribute 3.5 million dollars for the new fund, and Germany will inject 3 million dollars. Turkey, Luxembourg and Denmark also promised small amounts. Rasmussen did not mention detailed contribution of nations in the press conference.
Before the meeting, it was reported that the trust fund is for the supply and maintenance of Russian helicopters in Afghanistan, and Russia would receive 367.5 million U.S. dollars from the helicopter supply contract.
However, officials did not highlight the supply issue after Friday's meeting, and the fund seemed to be confined to works of maintenance and repair.
Rasmussen said that NATO and Russia also discussed a joint missile defense system project, supported by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in last year's NATO Lisbon summit.
"We have a very constructive dialogue (on this)," the NATO chief said. "It is an obviously a challenging job. It is quite a new thing to develop such a common missile defense architecture."
"Yet we have not agreed on how to build that architecture, but it is about a common objective, namely an effective protection of Russia as well as in NATO countries," he added.
Russia kept asking for a legal guarantee from NATO that the missile system will not be directed against Russia's strategic targets, while the alliance did not nod its head. NATO hopes to build two separate missile systems -- a NATO system and a Russian one with close coordination and cooperation between the two sides, while Russia prefers a whole package.
Russia and NATO agreed that the talks on a missile system should be taken forward energetically and the defense ministers of NATO and Russia will hold another meeting in June, officials said.
NATO, Russia Declares Helicopter Fund for Afghanistan