Russia will provide Nicaragua with $10 million to help the Central American country tackle its budget deficit, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday.
The sides signed the agreement during a meeting of the Russian-Nicaraguan intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation in Managua, Ryabkov said.
Earlier, the negotiators agreed that Russia would sell 250 buses to Nicaragua and provide the country with 25 more buses at no expense for Managua. However, the relevant deal has not yet been signed for technical reasons, the Russian official said.
The Russian negotiators also met with Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.
"During talks with the Russian delegation, the Nicaraguan leader touched on a range of issues, which remain unsolved," the Ryabkov said.
The Russian-Nicaraguan intergovernmental commission has met for the first time in 18 years.
Russian officials earlier said the resumption of the commission's activity testified to the countries "reaching a new level of bilateral ties."
The negotiators will meet next in Moscow in summer 2011.
Besides Russia, Nicaragua is one of three countries that have recognized the independence of the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia following the Russian-Georgian war over the latter in August 2008. The war began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
The other two countries to recognize the republics are Venezuela and the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru.
MANAGUA, June 3 (RIA Novosti)
