Lavrov confirms plans to visit Beijing in late April

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on Monday that he plans to visit China in late April. "We have a very extensive program today linked to holding ministerial talks in the Russia-India-China format, but the contacts are not limited to this. I appreciate the possibility to have a bilateral meeting," Lavrov said. "Taking into consideration that late this month I will visit China, we will be able to pay more attention today to the international issues and discuss in detail bilateral issues in Beijing," Russia’s top diplomat added. Beijing is due to host a forum of foreign ministers from the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) on April 27-28. Foreign ministers from 25 member-states and 12 observers of the organization have been invited for the meeting. China’s Foreign Ministry has earlier expressed hope that Lavrov would lead the Russian delegation. The Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is a multi-national forum with the goal of strengthening cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. The proposal for convening the CICA was first voiced by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in October 1992. CICA started its activities in March 1993, and now consists of 26 member-states, including China and Russia. Read more