Russian Foreign Minister Views As "Urgent" Creation Of A Global System For Opposing New Threats, Challenges

The Russian foreign minister believes "urgent" creation of a global system of opposing new threats and challenges, the main being international terrorism, said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov on Friday during a general-policy discussion at the 56th session of the UN General Assembly. He said this theme was in focus at the negotiations between presidents Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation and George W.Bush of the United States in Washington and Crawford. "We are merely obliged in the interests of the generations to come to close the ranks of the international community and get down to concrete deeds", said the chief of the Russian foreign policy establishment. He said that a world antiterrorist coalition is already working and Russia is its responsible participant. It is crucial that development of this coalition leads to a consolidating and coordinating role of the United Nations. "The United Nations possesses the required versatility, prestige, experience and resources for arranging collective rebuff to terrorism on the solid foundation of international law", explained the Russian foreign minister. In his opinion, large-scale decisions taken by the United Nations' Security Council and the General Assembly in recent months "lay a solid political-legal base for efforts to be taken towards eliminating the threat of terrorism, envisaging a broad range of concrete antiterrorist measures". It is important now that these decisions be maximally fully fulfilled by all states, stressed Igor Ivanov.