UNITED NATIONS, September 23 /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is meeting the foreign ministers of three countries members of the Commonwealth of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) - the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and the Commonwealth of Dominica - on the sidelines of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Russian foreign minister and his counterparts from the CELAC states, who met in New York last year, laid down a mechanism for promoting a permanent political dialogue and cooperation. It is based on the principles of equality, unconditional all-round and mutually beneficial cooperation, which rests on voluntary participation and is aimed at deepening and diversifying interaction between Russia and CELAC and establishing a political dialogue.

Earlier on Friday, Alexander Shchetinin, director of the Latin American department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that Russia and CELAC were planning to sign a document on political interaction at the Moscow meeting before the end of 2016.

At their today’s meeting, the sides are to discuss the document’s details.

The CELAC group comprises all the countries of North, Central and South America except for the United States and Canada.