OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2009. A joint meeting of the collegiums of the Russian and Belarus Foreign Ministries took place in Moscow on November 25. It was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Martynov.

The main attention was devoted to issues of the further development of Russia-Belarus collaboration in the international arena and the strengthening of the practical coordination of activities of the foreign affairs agencies.

Adherence to the common line on supporting the solution to key global and regional problems on the basis of multilateral cooperation, the rule of international law and the strengthening of the central role of the United Nations were reaffirmed and the readiness to expand further the collaboration of Russia and Belarus in different international and regional organizations to promote stability and security in the world and counter the present-day challenges and threats was expressed. In this context the sides thoroughly discussed the questions of Russia-Belarus cooperation in the sphere of the formation of a new European security architecture and collaboration on disarmament problems. The sides agreed with the necessity of building up joint efforts to promote the initiative for developing and concluding a legally binding Treaty on European Security. The increasing role of economic diplomacy was noted, particularly in the context of the creation of the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and of the simultaneous entry of its participants into the WTO.

The joint meeting examined and adopted a 2010-2011 Program for Concerted Action with respect to the foreign policies of the member states of the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State. It embraces a wide spectrum of topical issues in foreign policy cooperation and will help to integrate most fully the resources of the diplomatic departments to promote the foreign policy interests of Russia and Belarus on the international scene.

In development of the Program, a 2010 Plan of Consultations between the Russian and Belarus Foreign Ministries was signed.

A separate conversation of the ministers also took place. They examined issues of mutual concern in detail. The sitting of the collegiums and the meeting between Lavrov and Martynov passed in a spirit of complete mutual understanding, in a friendly and constructive vein.