Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Photo: VCG

Russia and Nepal have agreed to sign an agreement on military-technical cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said here on Monday.

"Military-technical cooperation has good prospects. We agreed to sign a corresponding agreement," Lavrov said after talks with his Nepali counterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, without providing details.

Lavrov added that Russia plans to expand the supply of helicopters to Nepal.

Russian aircraft, particularly Mi-17 helicopters, have proven useful in Nepalese highlands, and the plan is to cooperate in this area in the future, Lavrov said.

For his part, Gyawali said Nepal would like to obtain full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The basis of Nepal's foreign policy is an exclusively peaceful philosophy and the country is convinced that all contradictions must be resolved through dialogue and mutual respect, which is why participation in the SCO is important to Nepal, he said.

The SCO, an intergovernmental organization, was founded in Shanghai in June 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017. Nepal officially became a SCO dialogue partner in 2016.