Russia and Bahrain may sign an intergovernmental agreement on military cooperation in 2016, Russian Ambassador to Bahrain Vagif Garayev said on Wednesday, October 28, 2015.

“Both parties have almost agreed the text of the document,” he said.

The document, which both countries are preparing, should lay the basis for intergovernmental security cooperation. In particular, the document focuses on such issues as the training of peacekeeping forces and military personnel, visits of official military delegations and the joint struggle against global terrorism.

The agreement is expected to be signed as early as 2016.

It was reported earlier that Russia and Bahrain had signed an intergovernmental agreement on military and technical cooperation.

In 2014, Bahrain became the first foreign state to purchase the Russian-made anti-tank missile system Kornet-EM. Bahrain also showed interest in purchasing the Russian-made antiaircraft missile-gun system Pantsir-S1.

The Pantsir-S1 (SA-22 Greyhound NATO code name) is an air defense missile-gun system designed to protect vital small-size and big military areas, industrial targets and land forces units and reinforced the air defense units responsible for the protection of troops and military installations against precision-guided air attack from low and extreme low altitudes.

The armament of Pantsir-S1 consists of twelve 57E6 surface-to-air guided missiles and two 2A38M30-millimetre automatic guns developed from the two-barreled 30mm GSh-30 gun.