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Russia and Norway discuss Russia’s presence on Spitsbergen - Russian Foreign Ministry

The sides said they wanted to promote contacts at the Arctic Council; the Barents Euro-Arctic Council; the Council of the Baltic Sea States and within the framework of the Northern Dimension policy

MOSCOW, October 12 /TASS/. Russia’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov and Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende held consultations in Oslo on Monday to discuss problems related to Russia’s presence on Spitsbergen.

"The sides discussed Russian-Norwegian relations and possible measures to overcome a decline in bilateral trade; stagnation of some mechanisms of cooperation; interaction among various industries; border cooperation and improvement of the legal foundation of bilateral relations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Problems related to Russia’s presence on Spitsbergen and the increased practice by Norwegian children’s services to take children away from Russian nationals residing in Norway were also part of agenda.

The sides said they wanted to promote contacts at the Arctic Council; the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (Beac); the Council of the Baltic Sea States and within the framework of the Northern Dimension policy.

The Russian and Norwegian diplomats discussed urgent international issues, including European security; the situation in Ukraine and Syria, the Middle East settlement; the struggle against terrorism in the region; the migrant crisis in Europe and the implementation of agreements on Iran’s nuclear programme.

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