Vladimir Putin is expected to participate in ambassadors' Moscow session on Friday

Russian president Vladimir Putin is expected to take part in Russian ambassadors' session on Friday, said Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov in an exclusive interview with RIA Novosti.

The President "will set new tasks for the Russian diplomacy that arise from the current international situation and peculiarities of this stage of Russia's development," the minister said.

"President Putin's expected speech will be the centerpiece at the session," he stressed.

The ambassadors will take part in plenary sessions and sections on the following topics: protection of fellow-countrymen's rights abroad, development of relations in the Commonwealth of Independent States, informational and analytical maintenance of the foreign policy, economic and trade interests of Russia in the West and East, as well as some others, according to Ivanov.

Besides the foreign ministry's leaders and ambassadors, the session will involve representatives from other ministries and departments, MPs, and the president's plenipotentiaries in federal districts, he pointed out.

"As powers of the coordinator in protecting our compatriots' interests abroad will be transferred to the foreign ministry, we intend to consider possibilities for improving this work," the minister said.

Special attention will be paid to strengthening cooperation of the ministry and its foreign departments with the president's plenipotentiaries in federal districts, and with governors of the subjects of the Federation, Ivanov stressed. "First of all it is connected with the growing role of the regions in relations with foreign partners, especially in the trade and economic sphere," he explained.