Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the agenda of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg this month has been generally formed and approved.

“The priorities we proposed were supported by the partners and positively assessed by the international community”, he said in an interview published by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily on Friday.

The three priorities comprise energy security, the fight against infectious diseases, and education development.

Lavrov said the political part of the agenda includes non-proliferation, the fight against terrorism, and conflict settlement.

“The situation in Iraq is a deadend, and we have to jointly search for a way out. Iraq is degrading. Statements about the necessity of a national reconciliation are not backed by adequate actions. The G8 will not make decisions on how to act in Iraq, but it will give an assessment of the situation. The decisions have to be passed by the UN Security Council, which issued a mandate for the stay of multinational forces there”, Lavrov said.

Speaking about energy security, the minister said “a real threat to the energy market is posed today by unstable prices and a gap in demand and supply”.

“Therefore the Russian presidency in the G8 proposed to make global energy security a priority of the summit. The aim is to define an agreed policy for the future. It means common responsibility, common risks and advantages”, Lavrov said.

Speaking on possible G8 enlargement, the minister said “the talk is about extreme points of view – to enlarge today or not to enlarge at all”. “In reality, there are more participants. Thus, there is the European Union, which is represented by a big number of countries. Secondly, other leading countries are regularly attending the summits. They are China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico”, Lavrov said.

News source: itar-tass.com
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