OREANDA-NEWS. May 7, 2009. Talks took place on May 6 between Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski, who was on a working visit to Moscow.

Joint measures necessary for the ongoing improvement of bilateral cooperation and solution of practical matters of mutual interest were substantively discussed. In this context special attention was devoted to “resetting” the mechanisms of bilateral collaboration: the Russian-Polish Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation, the Group of Difficult Affairs in the history of Russian-Polish relations, and the Russian-Polish Public Forum.

The ministers exchanged views on a broad range of pressing international issues. The Russian side paid priority attention to advancing the initiative of the President of Russia for a European Security Treaty and to developing a new international legal framework for international energy cooperation. A thorough conversation took place on Russian relations with the European Union, including in the context of the Polish-Swedish initiative “Eastern Partnership.” The situation in Transcaucasia was examined. Our side set out its well-known assessments of the plans to deploy components of a US missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

Under the chairmanship of the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of the two countries, there was held a meeting of the interdepartmental Committee for Russian-Polish Cooperation Strategy, which also resumes its work after a long hiatus. The agenda of the meeting was “Relations between Russia and Poland in a European context.” With the active participation of representatives from ministries, departments and regional administrations a keen (targeting concrete accords) review of the state of and prospects for bilateral relations was held with emphasis on such areas as energy security, the struggle against organized crime, ecology, and scientific, cultural and youth exchanges.

Promising is the future for ties between constituent entities of the Russian Federation and vojvoidships of Poland. This matter was examined with the participation of representatives from interested Russian and Polish regions and from the upper houses of the parliaments of the two countries, under the patronage of whose speakers a bilateral conference on interregional cooperation is scheduled to be held in September.

In accordance with the established practice the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia and Poland took decision to bestow their joint diplomas for services in the promotion of understanding and rapprochement between Russian and Polish societies upon the famous Polish film actress Barbara Brylska and Russian writer Victor Erofeyev this year.

Lavrov and Sikorski also met the representatives of the Russian-Polish Public Forum, whose meeting is scheduled to be held in Moscow from May 12-14.