Agreement on Military Cooperation With Zimbabwe Published

The agreement between the Ministries of Defence of Belarus and Zimbabwe on military cooperation was published today on the National Legal Internet Portal. It was signed in December last year in Harare.

The document stipulates that military cooperation between the ministries will take place in the following areas:

• education of trainees in military specialisations;
• operational and combat training of armed forces personnel;
• military research, scientific and technical activity, joint studies and development projects;
• electronic warfare systems, information systems and military communications equipment;
• military medicine;
• military mass media;
• organisation of joint cultural, sports, military-memorial and other events.

Cooperation in other areas is possible by mutual consent of the parties.

Cooperation may be carried out in the following forms:

• exchange of visits by representatives and delegations at the level of defence ministers, their deputies, chiefs of general staff of the armed forces and/or other representatives of the parties;
• exchange of visits by working groups, specialists and experts;
• participation in operational and combat training activities of the parties;
• conducting joint combat-training activities, including sessions, exercises, competitions, training drills and live-fire exercises;
• training under higher education programmes and adult continuing-education programmes;
• exchange of experience and consultations on matters of mutual interest, participation in conferences, symposia, seminars, forums and working meetings on defence issues;
• participation in exhibitions of armaments and military equipment.

The agreement specifies that representatives of the sending party shall not participate in hostile actions that may result in violations of peace, internal security or the constitutional order of the receiving state.

The document provides for the annual development of a cooperation plan for the calendar year.

The authorised bodies responsible for implementing the agreement are the Department of International Military Cooperation of the Belarusian Ministry of Defence and the Joint Operations and Planning Staff of the Defence Forces of Zimbabwe.