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Russian president to pay at least 5 foreign visits by yearend

A program of president’s foreign trips in the next year is being drafted

MOSCOW, October 17 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will pay at least five foreign visits before the end of the current year, presidential aide Sergei Prokhodko said on Monday.

According to Prikhodko, a program of president’s foreign trips in the next year is being drafted, although the bulk of the visits will be paid by a new president after presidential elections in March 2012.

“The presidential foreign schedule is not limited by one year, since we are planning many summit meetings, such as of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization [SCO], BRICS [association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa], Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum [APEC],” he said and added that so far the schedule “is of working character.”

Before the end of the year, President Medvedev will make at least five foreign visits, he said. Thus, an official visit to Germany is planned for early November. During this visit, the Russian president will take part in the official launching ceremony of the Nord Stream pipeline. Also in early November, Medvedev will take part in a summit meeting of the Group of Twenty in France’s Cannes. Another summit meeting, that of the APEC, will be held in mid-November in Honolulu.

“The president’s December plans feature a visit to Prague,” Prikhodko said. In his words, in December a regular Russia-European Union summit will be held in Brussels. Such summits are traditionally held twice a year: in Russia in spring, and in the European Union in the second half of the year.

Prikhodko also said that a next round of Russian-Italian interstate consultations will be held in Italy, although he did not say when.