NATO Secretary General Discusses Cooperation with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen held talks with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at NATO Headquarters on February 18. The Secretary General said: ''Last year we made significant progress in our practical cooperation. We also adopted an ambitious NATO-Russia Council Work Programme for 2013. Now we need to focus on implementing it.''
The Secretary General, who held talks with Mr. Lavrov at NATO Headquarters, said that NATO and Russia should build on the significant progress that was made in practical cooperation between the two sides last year.
In 2012, the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) took forward cooperation in a number of key areas, such as training counter-narcotics officers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, training maintenance crews for the Afghan Air Force helicopter fleet, and expanded transit facilities through Russia for the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.
In December, NRC foreign ministers agreed a work programme for 2013 which expands existing projects and also builds on cooperation in areas such as counter-piracy and counter-terrorism.
Implementing that work programme in a timely and efficient manner will enhance security for all members of the NRC, Mr. Fogh Rasmussen said.
The Secretary General and Mr. Lavrov also discussed ways to advance the NATO-Russia dialogue on missile defence.