MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will start his Latin American tour next week, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Latin American Department Alexander Schetinin told TASS on Monday. Lavrov’s tour will start in Cuba, Schetinin noted.
"Indeed, visits are planned to four countries - Cuba, Columbia, Nicaragua and Guatemala," the diplomat said. "Bilateral meetings are planned, as well as a meeting of foreign ministers of SICA [Central American Integration System] countries in Guatemala," Schetinin said.
The tour will take place on March 24-26.
In the framework of a SICA foreign ministers meeting in Guatemala, the sides will coordinate "their common vision and directions of multilateral cooperation between Russia and Central American countries," Schetinin said.
"We maintain close and rather intensive bilateral relations with most Central American countries, but we also want to see what possibilities exist for cooperation in the multilateral format," the diplomat said.
Schetinin noted a regional center on drug police training as an example of effective cooperation. The center exists since 2012, and drug police officers from all Central American countries regularly undergo training there. "This is very important, this is practical work that helps us solve concrete problems," he said. "We want to determine similar projects, the development of which will be beneficial and interesting in the multilateral format," Schetinin added.