Lavrov to visit US for talks with Obama, Clinton, Quartet meeting

MOSCOW, July 11 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
will go on a three-day official visit to the United States on Monday.
The Russian minister will have an intensive agenda in the US. He will
participate in a Middle East Quartet meeting and will have negotiations
with US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Lavrov will also have meetings in the US Congress and with political
experts and public figures.
High on the agenda of the Quartet meeting are the prospects to resume
the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. The observers do not rule out that
the sides will discuss a Palestinian future appeal to the United Nations
to recognize the independence of a Palestinian state.
Lavrov will discuss in detail with the US top officials the missile
defence problems, the prospects of Russia's soonest entry in the WTO and
the current tense situation in the Middle East and North Africa. The sides
are expected to agree on a schedule of top level contacts, including
Barack Obama's probable visit in Moscow this year.
As the negotiators of the Russian-US Presidential Commission Lavrov
and Clinton will examine the activities of 20 working groups and will
consider the implementation of the joint projects. Transport security, a
broader cooperation in culture and ecology, including the creation of a
national park on both shores of the Bering Strait are on the list of
priorities in bilateral relations.
The chief diplomats of the countries are expected to sign an agreement
for an easier visa regime between Russia and the US. "The document will
envisage an option for multiyear multiple visas for tourists and
businesspeople and year-long multiple visas for people, who visit Russia
and the US for official purposes."
Lavrov and Clinton are also expected to sign an agreement, which
regulates an international child adoption procedure. "The agreement
envisages compulsory psychological tests for potential foster parents,
permits the adoption only through a special accredited agency and includes
a clause that the children adopted by US citizens will retain Russian
citizenship reaching the full age," Lavrov underlined.