OREANDA-NEWS. December 18, 2008. Talks took place on December 13 between Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and Head of the Federal Department (Minister) of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Micheline Calmy-Rey, who was on a working visit to Moscow.

The ministers held an exchange of the notes constituting the Agreement between Russia and Switzerland on the Establishment of the Russian Federation Interests Section at the Embassy of Switzerland in Georgia. Gratitude was expressed to the Swiss side for the readiness to represent the Russian Federation interests in Georgia in the conditions of the severance of diplomatic relations by Tbilisi. Topical aspects of developments in Transcaucasia were examined in this context.

A substantive conversation took place on European security problems, including in the light of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting held in Helsinki recently where the well-known related initiative of President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev was actively discussed.

Both sides emphasized the necessity of rendering active support to the constructive proposals on disarmament issues that are being put forward in different international forums.

In the international section of the agenda of the talks, substantial attention was paid to the prospects of settlement in the Middle East, in Nagorno Karabakh and in a number of other crisis regions, to the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear program and to Russia-Switzerland interaction possibilities in the UN and other international organizations.

The sides noted the onward development of bilateral relations and the high intensiveness of Russian-Swiss political dialogue, particularly at a high and the summit level, as well as between the foreign affairs agencies of the two countries. They also noted the successful implementation of the Memorandum signed in November 2007 between the Russian MFA and the Swiss FDFA to facilitate bilateral cooperation. A plan of inter-MFA consultations for 2009 was approved.

Agreement was reached to accelerate the work on the preparation of bilateral Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements, in particular, with regard for Switzerland’s accession to the Schengen Pact.