OREANDA-NEWS. May 25, 2009. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lebanon, Fawzi Salloukh, on May 23 in Damascus on the fringes of the 36th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in which Russia enjoys observer status.

Special attention was paid to developments in the region and Lebanon. There was reaffirmed on the Russian side support of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of this Middle Eastern state and of the processes of bolstering its internal stability on the basis of dialogue and the unity of all Lebanese.

In a keen vein an exchange of views took place on problems connected with advancement towards a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East and with the prospects of resuming talks on all the tracks, including the Lebanese track.

The ministers agreed to continue work in the interest of reinvigorating Russian-Lebanese ties and expanding the spheres of bilateral interaction, including political dialogue and economic, commercial and banking cooperation.