OREANDA-NEWS. May 26, 2009. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov met the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq, Hoshyar Zibari, 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.

During the conversation, issues relating to the intensification of bilateral cooperation in different areas, including the political, oil and gas, electric energy and other fields, were discussed primarily from the viewpoint of the implementation of the accords reached during the visit of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to Moscow in April this year and his meetings with President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev and Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. Zibari reiterated the invitation to Lavrov to visit Baghdad at a mutually acceptable time. There was again declared on our side the principled line of Russia on supporting the efforts of the government of Iraq in stabilizing the situation in the country through achieving national consensus on the basis of a comprehensive dialogue with the participation of representatives from major political forces and ethnoconfessional communities.

Questions relating to the UN consideration of the situation in Iraq were touched on.

During the exchange of views on regional and international problems, the main emphasis was placed on the situation in the Middle East from the viewpoint of the need to restart a full-scale peace process with a view to advancing towards a comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement, including the solution of its central, Palestinian, problem.