OREANDA-NEWS. March 12, 2009. In Geneva, a working meeting of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov with the heads of the organizations of the UN system took place, with Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva; Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization; Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labor Office; Francis Gurry, Secretary-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization; Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization; Hamadoun Toure, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union; Jan Kubis, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe; and Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, in attendance.

Lavrov informed the heads of the Geneva international organizations about the proposals of President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev for concluding with the US a legal accord to replace the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, and about further steps by Russia toward strategic offensive arms reduction.

The meeting discussed measures taken by the international community to counter the global financial and economic crisis and the input of UN organizations and programs into these efforts. The minister also briefed on the steps taken by the Government of the Russian Federation to maintain financial stability in our country.

A constructive dialogue on topical issues relating to international development assistance, human rights observance, social policy, health care, the drive against global climate change, intellectual property protection and information security took place. The tasks of the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety (Moscow, November 2009) were discussed.