Lavrov expects to discuss Astana summit with Turkish top diplomat

MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expects to discuss preparations for the next Astana summit on Syria with Turkish top diplomat Mevlut Cavusoglu, as Lavrov himself said, opening a meeting with his Turkish counterpart on Friday. "An Astana summit will be held soon, so I expect that we will thoroughly discuss preparations for this important event," Lavrov said. The Russian top diplomat pointed to intensive contacts with his Turkish counterpart, noting that it was their sixth meeting in 2018. "I visited Ankara a short while ago, then State Duma (lower house of parliament) Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin made a visit to your capital to take part in the sixth congress of the Justice and Development Party [Turkey’s ruling party - TASS], while meetings between officials from various ministries and agencies are planned to be held in the near future. Besides, we also plan to discuss the schedule of meetings between our presidents," Lavrov added. He expressed readiness to exchange views on pressing regional and global issues. "We always have much to discuss. Trade, economic, humanitarian and defense cooperation has been progressing. We very much value our dialogue on regional and global issues, which include the Syrian conflict, other aspects of the Middle East situation, the situations in the South Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine. We are ready to exchange views on all these issues as well," the Russian foreign minister concluded. Read more