OREANDA-NEWS. June 26, 2009. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov, on a working visit to Switzerland, held talks with Head of the Federal Department (Minister) of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation Micheline Calmy-Rey on June 24.

Special attention was paid to preparing a visit of the President of Russia to Switzerland, scheduled for autumn of the current year. The ministers discussed further steps to develop bilateral cooperation, both in the political sphere and in a broad spectrum of practical fields. Agreement was reached on speedily finishing the work on draft intergovernmental agreements on visa facilitation and readmission, scientific-technical cooperation, collaborative emergency humanitarian response, and the protection of appellations of origin and geographical indications of goods.

Both sides noted positively the significance of collaboration between the foreign affairs agencies, in particular, the practice of regular expert consultations on topical international problems, as well as of the mechanism of bilateral cooperation coordinators at the level of deputy foreign ministers of Russia and Switzerland.

An important theme of the talks was Russian President Medvedev’s initiative for a European Security Treaty, in which the Swiss side shows considerable interest. There were considered the practical aspects of collaboration between the two countries in the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe in the context of Switzerland’s upcoming chairmanship of the CoE Committee of Ministers (November 2009-May 2010). The interlocutors exchanged views on themes relating to multilateral disarmament, Middle East settlement, and the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear program.

In the context of discussing the situation in Transcaucasia the experience of the functioning of the Russian Federation Interests Section at the Embassy of Switzerland in Tbilisi in the conditions of the rupture by the Georgian side of diplomatic relations with Russia was positively evaluated.