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Lavrov says Russia, Slovakia need new projects to overcome trade downturn

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said he hopes to discuss at a meeting with Miroslav Lajcak, Slovakia’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, cooperation between the two countries in the trade, economic and humanitarian areas and the situation in Europe.

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"Relations between our countries are, perhaps, going through a difficult period," Lavrov said. "However, we have the agreements reached during the visit of Prime Minister Robert Fico last June."

"These agreements create a very important basis so that we can boost effort to overcome the current trends in the trade and economic sphere where a drop in trade turnover is observed," he said. "The conclusion is obvious: it is necessary to look for new projects, new directions for joint efforts." The minister pointed to a special role of the bilateral intergovernmental commission. "We hope that it will deal with specific issues at an early date," he said.

"After a pause, contacts between the foreign ministers resumed as well, political consultations were held," Lavrov added.

"The humanitarian sphere has always been an area the citizens of our countries are very much interested in. We are now implementing a program of cultural cooperation and educational exchanges. I hope to ‘synchronize watches’ on all these issues today," the Russian foreign minister said.

"Of course, we will discuss international affairs, the situation in Europe and our cooperation in the UN," Lavrov added.

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