Moscow, October 27. /TASS/. Moscow appreciates Seoul’s determination to develop a close partnership with Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday when opening talks with his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong.

"Strengthening our ties with the Republic of Korea is one of our top priorities in the Asia-Pacific region. We greatly appreciate our Korean neighbors’ reciprocal determination to foster a close partnership with the Russian Federation," Lavrov said.

"We have a very ambitious agenda ahead of us, and we’re going to go through all the issues that require our attention today in line with the arrangements made by our presidents," Lavrov added. "We will exchange views on key international problems, most notably the situation on the Korean peninsula."

According to Chung Eui-yong, his current visit to Moscow is of particular importance since the two parties were able to exchange ministerial-level visits despite the pandemic. "We are especially happy since today we’re successfully closing the Year of Mutual Exchanges that you, Sergey Viktorovich, launched back in March of this year, and since we both bore witness to the beginning and the end of the important event that was the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries," he said. The South Korean top diplomat also noted that these relations have been consistently developing in the spirit of mutual understanding "for the sake of peace and prosperity in the Korean peninsula and more broadly in Eurasia."

"Russia is a key partner in South Korea’s effort to pursue its New Northern Policy," Chung Eui-yong noted. Seoul’s foreign minister emphasized that Russian-South Korean bilateral trade in the third quarter this year rose 47% higher than the same period last year. "Our practical cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, medicine, and healthcare, as well as other sectors that are outlined in our ‘Nine Bridges’ concept, has been advancing steadily," the top diplomat concluded.