Czech PM, Russian upper house head discuss Czech arms production

Prague, March 19 (CTK) - Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS) and Valentina Matviyenko, Russian parliament's upper house head, discussed the continuing Czech production of military equipment and weapons with licences from the former Soviet Union, they told reporters separately.

Such cooperation must have "a civilised framework," Matviyenko said.

Necas said Prague does not shun expert negotiations about the issue.

Later Tuesday, Matviyenko met Czech President Milos Zeman, whose office has not released any details about the meeting.

The Russians presented their proposals to amend the legal status quo to Prague at a meeting of the inter-government commission for economic, industrial and scientific cooperation last November.

"The Czech side has been attentively studying the documents," Necas told journalists at a press conference of the ODS, of which he is chairman, Tuesday.

The Czech military uses Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters and their versions, all originally Soviet-made.

The Czech Republic plans to launch a helicopter centre within NATO, and it also offers helicopter repairs to allies.

Helicopters for the Afghani air force were recently repaired and overhauled by Czech companies, for example.

Matviyenko said she understands Prague's interest in building a centre for Russian helicopters' repairs and modernisation.

"We support such cooperation on condition our joint effort has a civilised framework," the Russian press agency ITAR-TASS quoted her as saying.

"I expressed regret at the [two sides'] failing for quite a long time to sign an agreement that would bind the Czech Republic to stop producing military equipment and weapons with the former Soviet Union's licences. We hope that a mutually advantageous solution will be found as quickly as possible to give our cooperation a civilised framework," Matviyenko is quoted as saying.

She said Necas agreed with this and said experts will meet in the foreseeable future to complete the relevant proposal.

The Czech Government Office, in its press release, only announced that Necas and Matviyenko discussed the development of Czech-Russian cooperation on both the government and parliamentary levels.

Necas appreciated the dynamic growth of bilateral economic relations and the growing number of joint investment projects, the Government Office wrote.