Lavrov: Eurasian Integration and Foreign Relations Are Russia’s Unconditional Foreign Policy Priority

PRESS RELEASE

Lavrov: Eurasian Integration and Foreign Relations Are Russia’s Unconditional Foreign Policy Priority

May 29, 2017 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivered the welcoming speech to the First Congress of the Assembly of the People of Eurasia, and emphasized that Russia’s top foreign policy priority is to develop Eurasian integration, especially between Russia and China, according to an account published yesterday by TASS.

"President Vladimir Putin’s initiative to organize a big Eurasian partnership is aimed at the well-being and the expanding sustainable development"

of the region, Lavrov said. "We can see in this a good opportunity to organize a new economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific." He noted that "the Chinese friends have actively supported this idea," and that members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have also demonstrated interest in it.

In fact, Putin’s proposal for a big Eurasian partnership was specifically mentioned by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his visit to Moscow last week, as a central idea that China fully backs. Wang also reported that specific agreements between the two countries in this regard will be signed when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Russia in July.