OREANDA-NEWS. June 18, 2009.  Fander Falconi Benitez, Ecuadorean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration, was on an official visit to Russia on June 17 at the invitation of the Government of the Russian Federation.

During the talks of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov with Falconi, which passed in an atmosphere of trustfulness and mutual understanding, a broad range of topical issues in bilateral relations and regional and world politics was discussed.

The sides noted with satisfaction the similarity or identity of Russia and Ecuador’s approaches to major problems of the contemporary world agenda. In particular, this concerns the necessity of building a more equitable and democratic world pattern based on the principles of multipolarity and consideration of the lawful interests of all countries, the preservation and reinforcement of the central role of the UN and observance of the norms of international law.

Considerable attention was paid to bilateral relations, including the prospects of further augmenting political dialogue.

The mutual striving was underscored for further intensification of economic and trade cooperation, the realization of concrete projects in the fields of energy, machine building, instrument making, information technology, science-intensive industries and the expansion of the bilateral juridical base.

In this context the sides noted the importance of the early resumption of the activities of the Russian-Ecuadorean Intergovernmental Commission on Economic and Commercial Cooperation.

In addition, questions pertaining to Russian cooperation with the regional associations of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean Basin were discussed. Both sides voiced interest in the further intensification of that cooperation.