Igor Ivanov leaves for Portugal

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is leaving for Porto, Portugal to attend the tenth session of the Council of Foreign Ministers /CFM/ from member states of the Organization for Security and Coordination in Europe, which is scheduled for December 6 and 7. According to Alexander Yakovenko, the official spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry, Russia is interested in "further development of the OSCE potential in each of its aspects and in the strengthening of its role in the process of forming the new structure of European security." "Russia's priority in the context of the CFM meeting in Porto is to give an extra incentive to the institutional reform of the OSCE and to the adaptation of its mechanisms to the changing situation," said Yakovenko.

According to the diplomat, members of the CFM have prepared a "sizeable package of documents" and are intending to adopt an OSCE Charter on Measures to Counteract and Combat Terrorism, and take decisions on elaboration, in the year 2003, of a Strategy of OSCE Reaction to New Threats to Security and Stability in the 21st Century.

The ministers will also make a decision on the strengthening of the dialogue between member states through annual conferences on problems dealing with security, a decision on development of the OSCE potential in the peacekeeping sphere, on new tasks in the economic and humanitarian sphere, etc.