OREANDA-NEWS. March 25, 2009. George Yeo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Singapore, was on an official visit to Russia, March 22-24, at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov.

In the talks between Lavrov and Yeo, which passed in a friendly and frank atmosphere, the main attention was paid to topical issues of the bilateral agenda. The sides noted the significant progress in Russian-Singapore cooperation achieved over in the four decades of diplomatic relations between our countries, and reiterated the mutual disposition to raise the level of political dialogue, to step up economic and trade ties and scientific and educational exchanges and to strengthen the juridical base.

The mutual intention was expressed to continue the preparations for the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Singapore, the first in the history of bilateral relations, in November this year.

At the end of the discussion of international problems, the closeness or similarity of Russia and Singapore’s approaches to the main problems of the present-day international agenda was stated and the mutual striving to expand the partnership on foreign policy issues in the interest of creating a fair and democratic world order based on strict observance of the UN Charter and the norms of international law was reiterated.

The necessity was emphasized of joint efforts by all members of the world community for exiting the global financial and economic crisis, overcoming its consequences and creating a more transparent and efficient international financial system.

The sides resolutely condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and spoke for deepening counter-terrorism cooperation on a bilateral and a multilateral basis.

Considering the situation in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) and further ways to build up the Russia-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership held a special place in the talks. There was reaffirmed on the Russian side the intention to develop many-sided cooperation with the Association in every way. The desirability was noted of an early adoption by the ASEAN states of a positive decision on the participation of Russia in East Asia Summits and the Asia-Europe Meeting, which would be an acknowledgement of the important role of Russia in the region and enable the use of its potential for the intensification of trade, economic, investment and technological ties, particularly for ensuring the energy security of the APR.