Middle East tensions top agenda of Bans talks with Russian leader

United Nations, New York, 18 March 2010 - Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. In Moscow today, the Secretary-General met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and they discussed the situation in the Middle East, including tomorrow's meeting at the principals' level of the Quartet. They also talked about nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, climate change, peacekeeping operations, UN-Russia cooperation and the joint declaration that was signed earlier in the day between the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The Secretary-General also held talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, peacekeeping, the CSTO, Somalia and Russia-UN cooperation. They held a press encounter afterwards, in which the Secretary-General stressed the need for direct peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. After that meeting, he signed the joint declaration between the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization with that bodys Secretary-General, Nikolai Borduzha. The Secretary-General said that he saw potential for enhanced cooperation with the CSTO in a number of areas of common interest, including counterterrorism, drug trafficking and conflict prevention. Later in the afternoon, the Secretary-General received an honorary degree from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He delivered an address, saying that the world needs Russia's creative engagement across the United Nations' agenda. News story: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp...