MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Suriname is an important partner for Russia in developing cooperation with Caribbean countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the National Institute of Information of Suriname published on Wednesday.

"We regard Suriname as an important partner in developing multifaceted cooperation with the States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). We aim at enhancing cooperation with this subregion in such priority areas as facilitating sustainable development, providing assistance in disaster response, training of diplomatic, law-enforcement, and emergency services officials of the Caribbean States, increasing educational, tourist, cultural, humanitarian and sport exchanges, promoting economic initiatives," he said, adding that Russian ministries and agencies "have already been actively working on this."

"The relations between Suriname and Russia have gained new momentum in the recent years. A number of landmark events contributed to it: the first-ever visit of Yildiz Pollack-Beighle, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Suriname, to Russia in October 2017, and the signing of two fundamental instruments establishing the framework for our bilateral cooperation; I refer to the Agreement on basic principles of relations and the Intergovernmental agreement on the conditions for waiving visa formalities in the mutual visits of the citizens of our countries," Lavrov explained.

"I note with satisfaction that our countries are working closely at the multilateral fora, primarily the UN. For our part, we are ready to expand our foreign policy coordination based on international law," the minister concluded.