Russia, Kuwait concerned over Mideast escalation

Russian presidential envoy plenipotentiary on Mideastern settlement, deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Sredin and chairman of the international affairs committee of the Kuwaiti National Assembly Muhammad al-Sakr expressed concerns over the escalating situation in the Middle East. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department, at a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, the sides discussed ways to achieve major pressing goals--to put an end to further escalation of tension, to get the situation back to normal and to revive the peace negotiations. Sredin noted that the situation in the Gulf can be largely settled with the help of Russia's "package" approach to the Iraqi problem and Russia's initiatives on post-crisis reconstruction of the Gulf zone. Sredin stressed that their realisation met the interests of both the Gulf states and the entire world. Sredin and al-Sakr emphasised Russia's and Kuwait's willingness to boost the fruitful political dialogue with a firm basis for cooperation in the trade and economic sphere, investments, scientific and cultural exchange.

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