The Russian Federation adheres to “traditional values” of international relations — Charter of the United Nations Organization, mutual respect, multivectory, and pursuit of balance of interests.
Russia plays an active role in different multilateral bodies toward formulization of the main principles of multipolarity with collective leadership of major powers. Primarily this applies to the United Nations Security Council, G20, G8 and some other international and regional structures. In these bodies together with other states Russia takes pains to find solutions for common challenges — the financial crisis, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, piracy, drug traffic, global poverty and climate change.
The magnitude of these challenges calls for harmonization of relations between states through the dialogue of civilizations, including economy and culture, and creation of a stable architecture of international relations based on democratic principles. Celebrating the 65th anniversary of the “Great Victory” in World War II this year reminds us once again that we should resist common threats together, avoid settling national problems on account of others and realize once and for all that it’s impossible to solve crises by force.
On the international arena, Russia is developing and strengthening relations with many countries of the world, not least the Middle East states, among them Saudi Arabia as the biggest regional power.
The Soviet Union was the first state to recognize the independence of the young Saudi state and establish diplomatic and trade relations with it in 1926.
In recent years, bilateral cooperation between our countries has notably advanced. The third meeting of the intergovernmental Russian-Saudi Commission for Trade-Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation is to take place on June 16-17 in St. Petersburg. Last month the Saudi-Russian group of Parliament friendship of the Consultative Council of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia visited Russia, and it is gratifying that the visit was widely covered in Russian and Saudi media.
Cooperation between Russia and Saudi Arabia in the international arena is also expanding. For the majority of key regional and international issues our positions are close or similar. Cooperating with other major countries in the framework of G20, Russia and Saudi Arabia are making efforts to overcome the fallout of the global financial crisis. With other members of the forum our countries contribute to the search of solutions of current economic problems, like reformation of international financial architecture or improving the financial sector regulation.
Regarding the Middle East peace process, and in particular the settling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both our countries share the same position — calling for a comprehensive and fair solution in the region that is aimed at the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. As a participant of the Middle East Quartet, Russia consistently supports the Arab Peace Initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002 as a backbone of the peace process. Russia and its partners in the Quartet welcomed the resumption of Palestinians’ indirect talks with Israel. Backed by the Arab League, the proximity talks are due to be held on the basis of international law and in accordance with the approach approved at the last ministerial meeting of the Quartet in Moscow in March this year.
Russia hopes that the recent tragic events with the international aid convoy near the Gaza coast won’t result in a new freezing of the Israeli-Palestinian contacts.
The Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia also share the opinion that the only way to settle Iran’s nuclear issue is through diplomatic means, and that a military option would have disastrous consequences for the region. In this regard we consider the Iran-Turkey-Brazil agreements on nuclear fuel swap as an important step toward the progress in the situation with Iran’s nuclear program.
Taking into the consideration the present tension over Iran, I would like to remind your readers of the growing importance of Russia’s concept of security in the Gulf region proposing a collective framework to achieve a sustainable security in the area. This concept was put forward by the Russian Federation in 2007. A positive point on the issue of Gulf security is the result of the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons that was held in New York with the participation of both Russia and Saudi Arabia. The agreements achieved during this conference could give impetus to the process of establishing a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. And we know that our Saudi partners support this plan.
The Russian Federation also welcomes the active Saudi stand for promoting intercultural and intercivilization dialogue based on equality and mutual respect. Besides, being the state with over 10 million Muslim population, Russia praises Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s significant role in highlighting Islam as a religion of tolerance.
To sum up, I’m sure that our friendly countries have the potential to achieve greater success in developing and strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation on political issues, as well as in economics, trade, investment, science, technology, culture and other spheres.
