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Austria wants to conclude new anti-terror agreement with Russia

Vladimir Putin said after the meeting with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer that Russia and Austria remain reliable partners despite difficulties
Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Russian President Vladimir Putin Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Russian President Vladimir Putin
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, April 6 /TASS/. Austrian President Heinz Fischer said on Wednesday that Austria wanted to conclude a bilateral agreement for cooperation in fighting terrorism with Russia.

"It is necessary to promote struggle against terrorism but, naturally, it is also necessary to observe human rights and legislation," Fischer said after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We believe that a new agreement for cooperation between the Interior Ministries of Russia and Austria should be concluded in the near future. We hope that we are going to achieve this goal," the Austrian president said.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Putin said that the terror attacks in Brussels, Paris and in Lahore (Pakistan) were another signal to the world community that it is necessary to join efforts in the struggle against terrorism.

Russia and Austria remain partners

Vladimir Putin said after the meeting with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer that Russia and Austria remain reliable partners despite difficulties.

Putin noted that the meeting was "honest, constructive and rather thorough." "We noted with satisfaction that despite well-known current difficulties, our countries remain in-demand and reliable partners for each other," the Russian leader said.

The president noted that he discussed with Fischer a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation. He reminded that trade turnover between Russia and Austria decreased by almost 25% last year, mostly due to crisis of world economy and falling oil prices. EU’s sanctions against Russia and Moscow’s response measures also negatively affected the situation, Putin added.

Moscow and Vienna agreed to step up work of the Russian-Austrian commission on trade and economic cooperation to effectively resolve emerging problems, the Russian president went on. The last session of the commission took place in February 2016.

Putin expressed hope for broad cooperation between business circles of the Russian-Austrian business council and trilateral business forum of Russia, Austria and Belarus. "We will continue fulfilling the declaration on partnership for modernization, facilitate creating favorable business climate, expand industrial and technological cooperation," he added.

Putin added that the sides agreed to boost efforts on developing and launching joint science-intensive projects in the sphere of transport infrastructure, including aviation.