Lavrov travels to Saudi Arabia Fri to discuss situation in Syria and Iraq

MOSCOW, June 20 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov travels to Saudi Arabia Friday to discuss the situation in Syria and Iraq, an RF Foreign Ministry official announced. "Lavrov will visit Jeddah at the invitation of Saud al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for talks with members of the Saudi leadership," the RF Ministry official said. "During the forthcoming contacts, it is planned to discuss the situation in Syria and around it, the state of affairs in Iraq, matters concerning the ensurance of security in the Gulf area, as well as topical aspects of Russian-Saudi interaction, including a political dialogue and cooperation in the trade-and-economic sphere," the Ministry official added. Russia and Saudi Arabia conduct an active dialogue in various fields. On June 3, al-Faisal visited Sochi where he met with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. On June 9, Lavrov and al-Faisal had a telephone conversation on the initiative of the Saudi side. They discussed efforts towards settling the crisis in Syria and other conflict situations in the region. The two countries also develop economic cooperation, including that in the field of energy. On June 18, Russia and Saudi Arabia completed fixing a draft intergovernmental framework agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and agreed on subsequent steps in preparing the Agreement for signature. Learn more on itar-tass.com