MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia was ready to cooperate with the West in developing new weapon systems.

"We are ready to cooperate with the West in the joint production of weapons to NATO standards. If this cooperation materializes, Russia will be ready to buy these weapons," Putin told a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club.

The discussion was off-limits to the press, and Putin's words were reported by Oksana Antonenko, senior fellow (Russia and Eurasia) at the Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London.

Commenting on the meeting as a whole, Angela Stent, Professor of Government and Director, Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, said the conversation was "as usual, very rich."

"We covered a large number of issues. There was a quite positive assessment of where the economy was going, although obviously some problems still remain," she said.

She also said Putin "discussed with us the problems of European security that haven't been resolved since last year's war in the Caucasus."

"We had a pretty positive evaluation... of better US Russian relations, but we are still waiting to see some positive results."