MOSCOW, April 18 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia calls consistently for the settlement of the Western Sahara problem, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after the negotiations with his Moroccan counterpart Saad-Eddine al-Othmani here on Wednesday.
“Russia is not only a permanent member of the UN Security Council, but also is a member of the Group of Friends of the Western Sahara settlement,” the minister said. “The assessments of the negotiators are important for us, and today we heard such assessments from Morocco. We need them for further work,” he said.
Lavrov noted that the UN Security Council approves resolutions on this problem on the basis of consensus. “This is a pledge that a mutually acceptable solution will be found,” he said.
“Russia continues efforts to search for solutions to the Western Sahara problem within political processes and its activities in the UN mission, in which the Russian contingent is deployed from the very beginning and is the largest one,” the Russian foreign minister pledged.
Lavrov also noted that “28 African countries, which are strongly interested in the settlement in the region, are expected to meet in Moscow in May 2012.” “High on the agenda of this meeting will be security and stability,” he concluded.