Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Portuguese counterpart, Augusto Ernesto Santos Silva -- July 18th , 2016

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Portuguese counterpart, Augusto Ernesto Santos Silva, are holding a joint news conference in Moscow following a meeting in which they discussed Russia-Portugal relations and bilateral cooperation.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s talks with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva

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On July 17-18, Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Augusto Santos Silva will pay a working visit to the Russian Federation for detailed talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Russian-Portuguese relations are based on traditions of trust-based partnership and constructive cooperation. However, their intensity has recently diminished in the general context of reduced Russia-EU contacts. At the same time, the Portuguese leadership has repeatedly demonstrated its desire to restore the previous level of cooperation. This was vividly demonstrated by the holding of the regular fifth meeting of the Mixed Commission on Economic, Industrial and Technical Cooperation between Russia and Portugal in Lisbon on June 29.

The forthcoming talks of our foreign ministers are intended to help overcome the pause in the political dialogue after last October’s parliamentary elections and the formation of the new Government in Portugal with a view to restoring the positive dynamics of bilateral relations in various areas and cooperation of the two countries in searching for solutions to priority international issues.

 The two ministers plan to compare notes on the prospects of bilateral cooperation on the political and economic fronts, and to focus on bilateral trade and economic ties in order to bolster them given the unfavourable global environment.

We expect the ministers to pay considerable attention to bilateral cultural cooperation. The positive past experience here has not only been preserved but substantially enriched by expanding the range of participants and using new forms of cooperation.

Assessment of the current state of Russia’s relations with the EU and NATO with a view to their normalisation will be a major focus at the talks. The sides expect to exchange opinions on the developments in Ukraine, Syria and Libya and discuss ways of upgrading international cooperation in fighting ISIS. The ministers will also discuss the activities of the United Nations.