Королевство Испания
Visit to Moscow of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, Miguel Angel Moratinos
PRESS RELEASE
Miguel Angel Moratinos, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, visited Moscow on December 8-9 at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov.
The head of the Spanish foreign affairs agency was received by President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev. On behalf of King Juan Carlos I and President of the Government of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero he conveyed sincere condolences on the passing away of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia. During the conversation Moratinos reaffirmed the commitment of the Spanish leadership to the comprehensive development of cooperation with our country, in the trade, economic and investment fields in particular. The Minister reported that Madrid is pinning great hopes on the upcoming visit of the President of the Russian Federation to Spain in spring 2009.
During the talks at the MFA, Lavrov and Moratinos exchanged views regarding the current state of, and prospects for Russian-Spanish cooperation, expressing satisfaction with its constructive nature, and noted the high degree of mutual trust within the framework of the dialogue. A schedule of upcoming political contacts was agreed upon and steps to deepen interaction in different fields were outlined.
Considerable attention was paid to discussing the prospects for the intensification of trade, economic and investment ties in the conditions of the continuing world economic and financial crisis. The sides compared their approaches to the prospects of reforming the world financial system in the light of the outcomes of the G20 Washington summit.
In examining the most pressing issues of the international agenda, a substantive conversation took place on the substance of the initiative advanced by President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev concerning the conclusion of a European Security Treaty. An important theme was Russia-EU relations, taking into account Spain's upcoming presidency of the European Union in 2010. In the light of Spain's current chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, questions were discussed pertaining to the activities of this organization.
A number of regional problems were touched on, including the situation in the Balkans, around Abkhazia and South Ossetia and in the Middle East. The talks have confirmed the similarity of Russia and Spain's positions on the main issues of the international agenda.
The talks held in Moscow have become another link in the joint work on ongoingly developing Russian-Spanish interaction in many areas, making it closer and richer and generally expanding cooperation between the two countries in the international arena.
December 9, 2008