Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is now in Cairo for a working visit, met on Saturday morning with the Head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (VSVS) of Egypt, Hussein Tantawi, RIA Novosti reports.
Lavrov arrived in the Egyptian capital on Friday. Yesterday evening he held negotiations behind closed doors with Kofi Annan, the Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States (LAS), on a resolution of the conflict in Syria. From Cairo the UN special envoy left for Damascus, where, according to available information, he is meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
At the negotiations between Lavrov and the Head of Egypt's VSVS, the sides discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation, especially in the trade and economic sphere. Such "hot" issues as the situation in Syria and Libya, as well as the situation in the Arab-Israeli settlement, were also raised.
On Saturday afternoon the Head of the Russian Foreign Ministry will hold consultations at the headquarters of the League of Arab States (LAS) on the complex Middle East issues with the foreign ministers of member countries of the pan-Arab organization. He will participate in a meeting of the Arab League at foreign ministerial level, at which the main topic will be the Syrian crisis. Lavrov will possibly also discuss this topic in the framework of the special committee of the Arab League on Syria.
Earlier it was reported that, prior to the meeting with Lavrov, the foreign ministers of the League will hold a "coordination meeting", trying to develop a unified Arab position to present to the Russian Minister.
