TUNIS, December 21. /TASS/. Russia and Tunisia will hold a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation in the first half of the next year, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference.

"The next meeting of the Russian-Tunisian intergovernmental commission on trade-economic and scientific-technical cooperation will take place in the first quarter or at the start of the second quarter [of the next year]," Lavrov said.

"This topic [the conclusion of the free trade zone agreement between Tunisia and Russia - TASS] will be discussed there, certainly, if our Tunisian friends remain interested," he added, answering the question about the stage of such agreement preparation.