(Itar-Tass) -- The G8 foreign ministers are holding a meeting in Moscow on Thursday. The foreign ministers discuss the preparations to the July G8 summit in Petersburg, global and regional problems. The agenda of the ministerial meeting includes cooperation in ensuring energy security, the fight with international terrorism.
This is the first meeting on such level during the Russian G8 presidency. The meeting opened at the Russian Foreign Ministry residence in Spiridonovka Street that is the unique architectural compound in downtown Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with the foreign ministers of Russia, Britain, Germany, Italy, France, the United States, Canada and Japan, reports Trend.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the ministers will consider the political agenda, primarily international problems, including conflicts and crises. The aim of the Moscow ministerial meeting is to promote a solution of some or another problem and make less packed the agenda for the G8 leaders, who will meet in Petersburg in the middle of next month. The ministerial meeting is actually the last preparatory stage before the Petersburg G8 summit, Lavrov emphasized.
The Mideast settlement, Iranian nuclear programme, the nuclear problem on the Korean peninsula will be discussed. Iraq and the situation around this country, Afghanistan will be also discussed. Considering the deteriorating situation several new situations, particularly in some regions of Africa and Haiti will be discussed, Lavrov pointed out.
The minister stressed that Russian partners reiterated that they would like to discuss conflicts in the CIS states. We have such a possibility, each participant can put up for discussion any issue, he remarked. I think that the agenda on conflicts, and primarily on the directions of actions of the world community in order to settle them will be quite packed, the Russian foreign minister indicated.
According to Lavrov, along with regional aspects of the situation in the world, issues concerning the universal talks will be highlighted. This is the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and all kinds of mass destruction weapons, the continued fight with terrorism and the increasing effectiveness of these efforts, he noted. Speaking on the problem of drug trafficking from Afghanistan, Lavrov noted that drug trafficking is closely linked with a terrorist threat, as terrorist organisations are mainly financed from the drug trafficking revenues.
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