Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Sigmar Gabriel, Moscow, March 9, 2017

Mr Vice Chancellor, colleagues,

Welcome to Moscow. We met only recently at the G20 meeting in Bonn and the Munich Security Conference. Today we can continue our dialogue in greater detail and on a more practical plane to see how our foreign policy departments can facilitate the emergent and increasingly active processes in trade, the economy and investments.

We have good traditions in the area of humanitarian exchanges and educational and cultural ties.

We attach special importance to Russia-Germany interaction on international issues such as Ukraine, Syria and other issues on the agenda of the OSCE, the UN, the G20 and other international organisations.

This visit and our talks are very important for all of the above reasons. Once again, welcome to Moscow.