Transcript of Remarks by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at the Opening Ceremony of a Meeting of Russia’s Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives to International Organizations, Moscow, July 15, 2008
1039-15-07-2008
Esteemed Dmitry Anatolyevich [Medvedev],
Esteemed colleagues,
At the outset, I would like to thank Dmitry Anatolyevich for consenting to take part in this regular diplomatic service assembly, which we hold once every two years. We all need communication in this format: communication with the President, who determines the foreign policy of the Russian Federation. We very much appreciate this opportunity. Today, when Russia has strengthened and continues to gain strength, when our positions in the international arena are becoming more robust and when new and far-reaching tendencies are occurring in the world, there emerges the full range of conditions for raising the effectiveness of our entire work and of conditions for us to act more energetically and enterprisingly. I think this line is perceived correctly. The results of the G8 Hokkaido summit and the reaction that is beginning to come in to the Berlin initiatives of the President of the Russian Federation are testimony to this.
Russian diplomacy has always been part of its people and state, working at the advanced frontiers and upholding the Motherland’s interests. It is not fortuitous that today, in the era of globalization, more and more attention is being paid to the active use of foreign policy tools to ensure the progress of our country and to work out long-term strategies for the socioeconomic development of the Russian Federation.
It is now my pleasure to give the floor to the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev.
July 15, 2008
