MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Defense Ministers Alexander Fomin and Yunus-Bek Yevkurov held a working meeting with visiting Minister of National Defense of Niger Salifou Modi and agreed to invigorate efforts to stabilize the situation in the region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"On January 16, Russian Deputy Defense Ministers Colonel General Alexander Fomin and Colonel General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov held a working meeting with Nigerien National Defense Minister General Salifou Modi. The sides noted the importance of the development of Russian-Nigerien relations in the defense sphere and agreed to invigorate joint actions to stabilize the situation in the region," it said.

According to the ministry, the sides welcomed the positive trends in the development of bilateral military and military-technical cooperation and outlined promising cooperation areas. "The Russian side stressed the Russian defense ministry’s readiness to continue constructive dialogue with the Nigerien partners in order to boost the combat capacity of Niger’s armed forces," the ministry added.