OREANDA-NEWS. October 23, 2009. Alexander Saltanov, Russia's Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Deputy Foreign Minister, visited Israel on October 21 and met Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, MFA Director-General Yossi Gal and his deputy Pinchas Avivi.

Conversations focused on matters relating to the situation in the Near and Middle East, including prospects for resuming the Middle East peace process. In this context an exchange of views also took place on the Goldstone report in light of the adoption by the special session of the UN Human Rights Council of the resolution on “The Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”

The theme of developing Russian-Israeli bilateral relations featured prominently. Both sides emphasized their interest in further building up bilateral cooperation, especially in high technology fields. In this connection they pointed out the need for the effective conduct of an upcoming meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in December.