Russia: Portugal's President Arrives On Official Visit

Jorge Sampayo, President of Portugal, has arrived in Moscow on an official visit, the first-ever by a Portuguese head of state. He was met by Sergei Shoigu, federal Minister for Emergency and Calamity Relief. The visit will enhance the progress of bilateral relations, with their long-established friendly content, expects the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The official schedule starts tomorrow with presidential negotiations in the Kremlin to be followed by a bilateral entrepreneurial forum President Sampayo will attend. He will meet the same day with Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and both parliamentary house speakers. Top international priorities will dominate the negotiation agenda, Alexander Yakovenko, press spokesman of the host country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said to RIA Novosti. The latest dangers and challenges, with recent dramatic outbreaks, and international teamwork against terrorism will come into the foreground at the negotiation table. President Sampayo will deliver a lecture at the Moscow-based State Institute of Foreign Relations, open a Portuguese art show at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and see a Bolshoi revival of Verdi's "Aida" Saturday, October 27, to go to St. Petersburg, Sunday.