MOSCOW, August 27. /TASS/. Moscow expects the plenary meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Yemen to take place by the end of the year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"We agreed on resumption of the work of the bilateral intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation," he told a news conference following talks with Yemeni Foreign Minister Shaya Mohsen al-Zindani. "The meeting of co-chairs in Moscow is scheduled for the second half of September, and we expect a full-fledged plenary meeting of this important intergovernmental body by the end of the year," the minister said.

Lavrov also noted the visit of Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak, the head of Yemen’s council of ministers, to Moscow this February, following which "additional measures were taken to strengthen the positive trend of growth of trade turnover, growth of mutual trade."

"Last year trade turnover almost doubled, with the same rate persisting in the first half of this year as well," the minister stressed. "This clearly demonstrates the interest of the two countries’ business circles in boosting trade and economic ties, including in the context of stabilization of social and economic environment in the Republic of Yemen observed," he said.