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Lavrov to hold talks with Belarus new Foreign minister Wed

It is not ruled out that the parliamentary elections, due to be held in Belarus on September 23, are also on the agenda of the talks

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, September 19 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with Vladimir Makei, the newly-appointed Foreign Minister of Belarus, here on Wednesday.

Although personnel changes have been effected at the Belarus Foreign Ministry, including those on the Russian track (Makei, who previously headed the presidential administration, has been appointed to head the Foreign Ministry while Igor Petrishenko, ex-First Deputy Minister, is appointed Ambassador to Moscow), experts have no doubts that the dynamism of bilateral relations will be maintained.

RF Foreign Ministrry analysts say, "The foreign-policy dialogue is systemic and versatile in character. Moscow and Minsk act practically from common positions on the main international problems and actively interact in universal and regional organizations". President of the Republic Alexander Lukashenko adheres to the analogous vision. He referred to Russia as most important partner of Belarus.

The talks in Moscow are a logical continuation and reaffirmation of the results of Lavrov's visit to Minsk on August 14-15, and preparation for a joint session of the Boards of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries. The session is due to be held in October in the Belarusian capital.

The main subjects of discussion at Wednesday's ministerial meeting include European and regional security problems, cooperation within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Special attention will be undoubtedly devoted to advancement of integrational processes throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States, primarily the Union State (of Belarus and Russia), the Customs Union (CU), and the Common Economic Space. The CU, experts point out, already gives mutual advantages to Moscow, Minsk, and Astana.

The segment of international issues includes the the state of affairs in the Middle East with emphasis on the crisis in Syria, the strengthening of the UN role in the context of it being important undeviatingly to abide by the letter and spirit of the UN Charter.

It is not ruled out that the parliamentary elections, due to be held in Belarus on September 23, are also on the agenda of the talks. As Lavrov said earlier, an international estimate of the voting in the republic should not be "an object of unilateral, invented-by-someone rules. Attempts at imposing those rules on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are being made contrary to the proposals aimed at working out generally acceptable election monitoring ones".

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