Greece: News from Moscow

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov met in Moscow on Wednesday and held talks. The greater part of the meting was devoted to Greece’s proposal for finding a compromise solution that would allow OSCE observers to remain in Georgia and South Ossetia. “The proposals of the (Greek) presidency are realistic both de facto and de jure and we are ready to help promote them,” said Lavrov later during a joint press conference.  Following their meeting, the Russian foreign ministry issued a statement saying that “Russia hails the priorities of the Greek presidency of the OSCE in 2009.”The Russian side evaluated positively the priorities set by Greece for the OSCE’s activities in 2009 and hailed the intention of the Greek presidency to organise a special ministerial meeting to continue discussion on the security problems in the and ways of resolving them,” the statement adds. The two ministers continued their talks over lunch, during which they tackled issues of bilateral interest, such as cooperation in the energy, tourism and trade sectors. Chairmanship of Greece at the OSCE: www.osce.org/cio; Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Greece-Russia Bilateral Relations