OREANDA-NEWS. On December 4, a meeting between Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov and the Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria, Michael Spindelegger, appointed to this post on December 2, 2008, took place in Helsinki on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting.

An exchange of views took place on Helsinki meeting-related themes, including promotion of the Russian initiative for holding a pan-European summit to launch discussions on a European Security Treaty.

The ministers discussed a number of practical issues in Russian-Austrian cooperation, and the prospects for interaction in the UN in light of Austria’s upcoming membership in the Security Council of this organization in 2009-2010.