SEOUL, March 24. / TASS /. Holding the Year of Mutual Exchanges between Russia and South Korea will contribute to building contacts and strengthen friendship despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Wednesday at the opening ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the bilateral relations.

"I am convinced that holding of the Year of Mutual Exchanges will help to further strengthen our diversified dialogue, bring it to a new level, and will allow us to boost our contacts, contacts between people, first of all," Russia’s foreign minister stated. "I am sure that through joint efforts, regardless of the pandemic’s challenges, we will be able to fulfill the main purpose of the year - to strengthen friendship and mutual understanding between our countries’ peoples."

According to Lavrov, the historic decision to establish bilateral relations, made on September 30, 1990, "was a natural result of the policy of Moscow’s new thinking and Seoul’s northern diplomacy, mutual rejection of the Cold War’s vicious logic, which separated the two countries for decades." "In a very short historical period, we have come a long way," the foreign minister noted. "Today, Russia and the Republic of Korea are linked by truly good-neighborly relations based on common long-term interests and characterized by a high level of mutual respect and trust as well as stable political dialogue, which is being reinforced and expanded by regular contacts at the highest level."

Russia’s top diplomat emphasized dynamic cooperation in terms of trade, economic and investment spheres, including the implementation of large-scale projects in Siberia and the Far East. "Cooperation regarding the Nine Bridges concept put forward by Republic of Korea’s President Moon Jae-in is crucial. It stipulates the intensification of bilateral cooperation in terms of energy, transport, shipbuilding, shipping, agriculture, fisheries and other areas," Lavrov went on to say. Furthermore, "there are expanding humanitarian ties, while regular exchanges of creative teams and exhibitions, festivals and other joint ventures are held. The growing interest of Koreans and Russians towards each other is evidenced by the popularity of the country’s language and cultural history as well as the dynamics of mutual tourist flows."

Lavrov expressed confidence that the intense program of the Year of Mutual Exchanges would be carried out to the fullest extent possible. "All the necessary prerequisites for this are evident," he noted. "The events of the Year are being actively fulfilled, some of them took place online." Among the upcoming most significant events, Russia’s foreign minister mentioned, first of all, the Russian-Korean forum of cross-regional cooperation in Ulsan as well as the Russian Seasons international festival, whereby world-famous Russian art groups are planning to visit South Korea.