ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th October, 2020) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias, as well as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in Athens.
The talks will focus on bilateral issues, including economic and energy cooperation, as well as on regional and international issues, such as the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, the middle East and North Africa, in the Balkans and the Caucasus.
Dendias stressed on Sunday the importance to reset relations with Russia and expressed hope to achieve this on Monday, during Lavrov's working visit to Athens.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said ahead of Lavrov's visit that Greece remains one of Russia's important partners in Europe.
Notis Marias, a Greek politician and a former member of the European Parliament told Sputnik ahead of Lavrov's visit that it could lead to the improvement of relations between the two countries, particularly in light of current tensions between Greece and Turkey. According to Marias, the Russia-EU relations might also become one of the topics to be discussed during Lavrov's visit.
The foreign ministers are expected to sign a joint memorandum during Lavrov's visit, designating 2021 as the cross-year of Greek and Russian history, according to the Greek Foreign Ministry.
Lavrov is also expected to meet for short talks with Greece's former prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
The last time that the Russian foreign minister visited Greece was in 2016. In the past two years, Lavrov met with his Greek counterpart Dendias several times, on the sidelines of multilateral events. The Greek foreign minister visited Moscow last year.
