Lavrov to begin visit to Brussels for Russia-NATO Council ministerial meeting

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will begin his visit to Brussels on Tuesday, where he will take part in a ministerial meeting of the Russia-NATO Council on December 4. Delegates will exchange opinions on pressing international problems, including security in the Euro-Atlantic region, the situation in Syria and Afghanistan, and will discuss problems of and prospects for relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance in responding to common risks and security threats, the Russian Foreign Ministry said,according to Voice of Russia,ITAR TASS.

The foreign ministers will consider “practical measures to implement agreements on the creation of a common space of peace, security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region that were reached at the summit of the Russia-NATO Council in Lisbon on November 20, 2010,” the ministry said. “Russia will draw attention to the need of taking practical steps towards implementing this task.”

“The meeting will review the activity of the Russia-NATO Council for 2013 and discuss priorities for further practical cooperation in the military sphere, the fight against piracy, counteraction to terrorist and drug-trafficking threats, response to natural and techno genic catastrophes and the creation of necessary conditions for mutually advantageous military-technical cooperation,” the ministry said. “The diplomats will also discuss preparation of a project on the scrapping of munitions using advanced environmentally friendly technologies.”

Moreover, the ministers will approve an action plan of the Russian-NATO Council for 2014.

“The meeting’s important component will be the discussion of further cooperation on Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force’s mission in 2014,” the ministry said. “A special focus will be placed on the need to ensure proper international legal base of NATO’s planned presence in Afghanistan,” the ministry said. “Russia will reiterate importance of establishing cooperation between the Alliance and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.”

R.S