Russia And France To Improve Co-Operation With Latin America

Moscow hosted another round of Russian-French consultations on Latin American issues.

The information and press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Latin America Department Valery Morozov together with director of the French Foreign Ministry's Latin America Department Jean-Marie Gossot participated in the consultations.

The parties exchanged their views on issues concerning the situation in the region on the whole as well as on ones concerning major development trends of the region, dynamics of integration processes and provision of security in the region.

Special attention was paid to the necessity to reinforce cooperation between Russia and France and Latin American countries at both international and regional forums to strengthen the collective security system and respect the international law bases of the present-day world order.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the participants in the consultations had touched upon the situation in a number of countries such as the Argentine, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and Haiti. The parties exchanged information about bilateral relations between Russia and France and Latin American and Caribbean states, as well as about the development of contacts with regional organizations and integration associations of the Western Hemisphere.

The Russian-French consultations were conducted as a routine meeting for exchange of information between the Russian and French Foreign Ministries on different issues including regional ones.

The parties agreed to conduct the next round of consultations on these issues in Paris in 2004.