Russia Foreign Minister Hands Over Its President's Personal Message To Namibia President

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has handed over to Namibian President Sam Nujoma a personal message from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The message deals with key directions of and an outlook for Russian-Namibian relations. The meeting between the Russian minister and the Namibian leader was held on Friday in the capital city of Windhoek, where Ivanov is on stay with an official visit. On the same day Igor Ivanov held negotiations with Namibian Foreign Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab. At the meetings with the leadership of Namibia was stressed the two countries' orientation towards further promotion of trade and economic contacts. The sides considered the possibility of interaction in such promising areas as the development of mineral and energy resources, fishing, health protection, personnel training etc. The Namibian leadership and the Russian foreign minister have set the goal of raising the state of trade-economic relations to the high level of present political interaction between Moscow and Windhoek. Directions and organisational aspects of cooperation will be discussed by the Russian-Namibian intergovernmental commission. The sides also considered African problems, strategic stability and the developments in the Middle East, in and around Afghanistan, as well as other matters. Coincidence of the positions of Russia and Namibia regarding international issues was noted.