Portugal is promoting the idea of maintaining dialogue with Russia in NATO and the European Union, Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said on Saturday after the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
LISBON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2018) Portugal is promoting the idea of maintaining dialogue with Russia in NATO and the European Union, Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said on Saturday after the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov."We have discussed EU-Russian and NATO-Russian relations. Portugal is defending the importance of maintaining political dialogue between the European Union and Russia as well as NATO and Russia at these two levels," Silva said.
The foreign minister called Russia an important partner of Portugal.
"The Russian Federation is a very important country for us and a neighbor of the European Union. We share common interests, particularly, regarding the international agenda," Silva noted.
The minister added that the common Portuguese-Russian interests included fight against terrorism, promotion of quick crisis response as well as ensuring development via UN mechanisms.
Earlier in the day, Lavrov arrived for an official visit in Portugal. The previous meeting between Lavrov and Silva took place in Moscow on July 17-18 during the latter's working visit to Russia.
