MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. Russia has turned the spotlight on Portugal’s aspiration to facilitate the normalization of dialogue between Moscow and Brussels, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday, as he opened the talks with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva.

"Your visit also has a multilateral dimension. It comes at a time when Portugal holds the presidency of the EU," Lavrov told the Portuguese top diplomat. "There is a lot of work to be done in order to normalize the situation. We appreciate your interest in it. And we respond with reciprocity."

The top diplomat noted that the parties intend, in particular, to compare notes on the fulfillment of top-level agreements between Russia and Portugal.

"We are interested in cultivating economic and investment ties, in encouraging contacts between parliaments, ministries and, of course, between our own ministries that deal with foreign policy," he added.

A delegation of the foreign affairs committee of the Portuguese parliament will visit Russia this October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"In October, at the invitation of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, the delegation of the corresponding committee, the foreign affairs committee of Portugal’s parliament will visit us," the Russian top diplomat noted.

He emphasized that during the talks, the parties "also supported the idea that friendship groups that exist in each parliament renewed contacts along their line as well".