Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in New York to participate in a ministerial meeting of the Middle East Quartet. The meeting of the Middle East Quartet mediators (the EU, the United Nations, Russia and the United States) will begin at 15.00 EST (23.00 Moscow time) on Monday at the UN head office in New York.
Participants in the meeting will be also U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, French Foreign Minister presiding in the EU Bernard Kouchner, EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and the Quartet’s special envoy, former British premier Tony Blair.
The Russian foreign minister will also participate in two meetings of the U.N. Security Council planned for Tuesday, December 16.
One of the meetings will consider the joint draft resolution on the Middle East submitted by the Russian and U.S. delegations last Saturday. Rice will also participate in the U.N. Security Council meeting. The resolution is intended to confirm the basic principles of the Middle East peaceful settlement process.
The other Security Council meeting will consider the situation in Somalia. Security Council members are expected to approve a resolution to fight piracy in the African country”s territorial waters.
Earlier this year, Council members adopted four resolutions imposing sanctions against pirates and allowing navy ships of a number of countries to counteract against sea bandits in Somalia”s waters.
Sergei Lavrov will also hold several bilateral meetings during his visit in New York, the Russian permament mission to the U.N. told Itar-Tass.
