“Dialogue of Civilizations” Concludes

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA)   The 7th Annual Session of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” concluded on the Dodecanese island of Rhodes yesterday (October 13) with the adoption of the “2009 Rhodes Declaration.”  The event was attended by 500 delegates from 70 countries and among the messages read out was one by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who praised the positive impact of the annual forum on several international and regional mechanisms and in developing relations between civil societies in many countries.  In its final meeting, the Forum decided to hold its 8th annual session on Rhodes once more, on October 7-10, 2010.

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Greece / Corfu High-Level Meetings

(GREEK NEWS AGENDA) The Greek Chairmanship of the OSCE is hosting an informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers on June 27 and June 28, on the Greek island of Corfu.  The Corfu ministerial meeting will bring together all 56 participating states to the same table for a dialogue related to security in Europe and OSCE’s role. Corfu will also play host to the NATO-Russia Council meeting -the first one since the crisis in Georgia last summer- scheduled to take place on June 27. The meeting will focus on revitalizing the Council with the objective of developing its activities and improving NATO-Russian relations.  Among those attending the meetings will be the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union, Javier Solana, the EU Commissioner on External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the Secretaries General of  NATO and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The US delegation will be headed by Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and the Russian by FM Sergey Lavrov.

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