Russia Pursued Active Many-vector Foreign Policy, Says Russian Foreign Minister

In 2001, Russia pursued the active many-vector policy aimed at the creation of favourable conditions for continuing domestic reforms, enhancing social and economic development, and reliably protecting the country's security, said Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov. "All CIS leaders attended the jubilee session timed to the 10th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and this speaks for itself," the minister underlined. At the same time, he believes, "there is a lot of work to do in this direction, but integration processes are gathering momentum." Igor Ivanov believes that relations of Russia with separate European states and Euroatlantic structures, such as the European Union and NATO acquire a new qualitative level. "Russia is being treated and comes out in these processes as an equal and reliable partner. This is fundamentally important," he stressed. He also stated that the Asian direction of the Russian foreign policy is also developing dynamically. Relations with China and India reached the highest level over the past decades and acquired a strong treaty basis, and long-term prospects have been determined. The efficient dialogue is going on with Japan, the two Korean states, Vietnam and other ASEAN countries. "This vector is of key importance for Siberia and the Russian Far East from the point of view of their integration into the vast Asia-Pacific region," the minister underlined.