Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov Meets Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat In Oslo

At a Wednesday meeting in Oslo with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov called on both sides to fulfil their commitments on resumption of high-level direct contacts. The Russian minister spoke for "establishment of stable cooperation in the sphere of security, unacceptability of unilateral steps that might harden efforts on realization of confidence measures and resumption of talks on political settlement," RIA Novosti was told at the Russian Foreign ministry's Information and Press Department. Ivanov and Arafat noted the importance of coordinated international steps to come out of the crisis made by the Russian and American co-sponsors, the European Union, the United Nations. The Russian Foreign Minister stressed that Russia "firmly speaks for resumption of the Middle East peace process based on resolutions 242 and 338 of the UN Security Council and other agreements." Yasser Arafat highly assessed Russia's role in seeking ways of finding a solution to the crisis and its contribution to the overwhelming Middle East settlement.