Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that Russia and the United States would launch a joint initiative on how to fight against piracy, Itar-Tass reports.
Piracy was one of the topics on the agenda of a brief meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the U.S. outgoing President George W. Bush on the second day of the APEC summit.
“Among the issues discussed the presidents paid special attention to struggle against piracy,” the Russian foreign minister went on to say.
“At the end of the meeting they agreed that our countries would launch practical and legal initiatives on this issue. It’s going to be more efficient this way,” the Russian foreign minister went on to say.
During the meeting, President Medvedev and President George W. Bush showed understanding of the importance of Russian-American relations for the whole world, for the solution of problems of world economy and collective security.
Earlier, after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Mr. Lavrov emphasized that the United States and Russia had agreed on the need to fight piracy both on land and at sea.
“We discussed the need for stronger efforts within the framework of the U.N. Security Council in the struggle against piracy. We should think what steps the Council can take in this direction,” Lavrov said.
“We should exert every effort to fight against this evil not only on the water but also on Somalia’s coast where we should try to restore order jointly with this state’s legitimate government,” Lavrov went on to say.
Presidents Dmitry Medvedev and George W. Bush expressed confidence that their respective countries would be able to solve their differences in future.
Bush said it was his last meeting in his capacity as the president of the United States. He noted that during his presidency he had had many meetings first with President Putin and then with President Medvedev, and there were issues on which they agreed and disagreed. President George W. Bush said that he had always tried to maintain courteous relations with the two.
President Medvedev noted progress, which the Russian and U.S. leaders had made in developing bilateral relations.
“On the whole, despite wide differences on some issues, we’ve worked well and we’ll continue this work,” the Russian president said.