All news

Lavrov to take part in Munich Security Conference

He plans talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen

MOSCOW, February 4 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday is leaving for Germany to take part in the 48th Munich Security Conference. The minister will deliver a report there and hold a number of bilateral meetings. He also plans talks with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The RF Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov will propose to the Munich session to analyse the events of the Arab Spring in the context of issues of security in Europe. “In his speech the minister will outline Moscow’s approach to overcoming the crisis events in the Middle East region and in North Africa on the way towards the encouragement of the authorities-opposition dialogue, respect for humaфn rights and refusal from violence by both sides,” the ministry emphasised. The Russian diplomacy head will draw the Western colleagues’ attention to the importance of learning “the right lessons” from the NATO operation in Libya and the need to “strictly abide by the decisions of the UN Security Council.”

“One of the main emphases will be placed on the tasks of the creation in the Euro-Atlantic region of an equal and undivided security space,” the ministry informed. “Lavrov will touch upon the prospects for Russia-NATO cooperation, the European missile defence problem and control of conventional weapons.”

The Munich Conference was founded in 1962 by the German Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist-Schmenzin as “a meeting of defence officials” of NATO member states. Since 1999 politicians and military from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as businessmen started to take part in it. In 2007, RF President Vladimir Putin delivered a keynote speech on the foreign policy at the Munich Conference, which caused a major international response. Numerous informal meetings are traditionally held within the forum’s framework to discuss promising ideas in the sphere of international security.

According to the conference organisers, the current session participants will pay close attention to the risks and challenges in the cyber space, prevention of conflicts over access to energy resources.