Russian Foreign Minister Praises Talks With Austrian Counterpart As Productive

Muhammad Irfan Published March 12, 2019 | 05:11 PM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that he had fruitful and productive talks with his Austrian counterpart, Karin Kneissl

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th March, 2019) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that he had fruitful and productive talks with his Austrian counterpart, Karin Kneissl.

"We have held good, detailed and fruitful negotiations," Lavrov told reporters after the talks in Moscow.

The sides have discussed a number of issues on the international agenda, including the situation in eastern Ukraine and Russia's membership in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), according to the Russian minister.

"We have discussed in length the situation in the middle East and Northern Africa, including the Syrian crisis settlement. We advocate its promotion based on the UN Security Council resolution 2254 .

.. We have agreed on the need to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, as well as reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure in Syria so that the Syrian citizens could return home," Lavrov added.

The Russian-Austrian ties have been burgeoning lately. Earlier in the day, Lavrov and his Austrian counterpart Karin Kneissl signed a statement on the establishment of the Sochi Dialogue forum.

The forum will be aimed at promotion of civil society dialogue between the states. This idea was first supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Austrian counterpart, Alexander Van der Bellen, during their talks in June.