RUSSIA’S LAVROV VISITING ANKARA TO DISCUSS ARRAY OF COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITIES

Today’s Zaman
01 July 2008

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is scheduled to arrive in
Turkey today for an official two-day visit at the invitation of his
Turkish counterpart, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan.

Lavrov will discuss Russian-Turkish cooperation within the context
of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC),
as well as international issues in other Black Sea formats, Russian
Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said yesterday in Moscow.

The ministers will discuss a "wide spectrum of the Russian-Turkish
cooperation, regional and international issues, including Iraqi and
Middle East settlement, the situation around the Iranian nuclear
issue, the situation in Kosovo, the Trans-Caucasus and Central Asia,
the state of affairs in Cyprus settlement, interaction in the BSEC
and other current Black Sea formats such as BLACKSEAFOR and Operation
Black Sea Harmony," Nesterenko said.

"Interaction in the gas energy sector is developing at an increasing
tempo. In the light of Turkey’s tender for the construction of
the first nuclear power plant in this country announced this year,
Russian organizations show interests in establishing cooperation in
this field," Nesterenko said.

Both Azerbaijani and Armenian media reports cited Turkish sources
as saying that settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as well as
opening of Turkey’s border with Armenia would also be on the agenda
of Lavrov’s talks in Ankara.