Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (on the results of the Joint Collegium of the Foreign Ministries of Russia and Belarus and on the state of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear programme):
Today the fourth Joint Collegium of the Russian and Belarusian foreign ministries took place. We examined the full spectrum of our international relations, taking into consideration above all the agreements adopted at the session of the Supreme State Council in St Petersburg on January 24. We have approved a coordinated foreign policy action programme for the coming two years. Consultations between our foreign ministries this year will give this programme concrete form. This is a comprehensive programme that covers practically all aspects of international life. It encompasses our bilateral relations, our cooperation in regional bodies, above all in European organisations and organisations in the CIS area, and also our approaches to the work undertaken by international organisations to resolve global problems. We have noted that our positions coincide. We have outlined joint initiatives for the ongoing work on reforming the OSCE and for our work together in the United Nations Organisation. I think that our meeting was very useful. The coordinated foreign policy action programme will be presented first to the Union government for approval and then to the Supreme State Council.
Yesterday, Sergei Vladilenovich Kiriyenko, as co-chairman of the Trade and Economic Commission, continued negotiations with his colleagues in Tehran on the Iranian nuclear programme. The discussion centred on our initiative to establish a joint venture on Russian territory that would provide Iran with guaranteed supplies of fuel for its civilian nuclear programme. It has been agreed that the consultations will continue. A clearer understanding has now emerged of how this initiative can be given practical form. This initiative is not an isolated proposal but is part of the general effort to settle the Iranian nuclear programme issue and is a component of a possible package that, of course, would have to receive the approval of all the members of the IAEA Board of Governors. We are working on this idea, on giving it concrete form and on promoting it, in close contact with the Director General of the IAEA. We are also in contact with our partners in the European ‘troika’, with the United States and China, with the authors of the position document that was approved on the eve of the last session of the IAEA Board of Governors at the end of February.
We hope that the negotiations with the Iranians will continue this week, most likely in Moscow. We will inform you when an agreement is reached. We will be able to get a more concrete perspective on the prospects for all this work on March 6, when the IAEA Board of Governors will hold its next meeting.
<…>
President Vladimir Putin: Now, turning to bird flu and the situation in general with this disease, which is drawing closer to us as well, you know about the problems our neighbours, neighbouring countries, are encountering now with bird flu. An increasing number of cases of bird flu in migratory birds have also been detected in western Europe. It is already the end of February and so we do not have much time left. We can expect the situation to be difficult. Specialists say that the bird flu situation will be problematic. I think it would be wise, therefore, to set up a special task force within the government to address this issue. I think that someone from the government leadership should head this task force. Mikhail Yefimovich [Prime Minister Fradkov], what do you think?
Mikhail Fradkov: I propose that First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev head this task force. He oversees precisely the ministries that will be playing the main part in this work and that will together make it possible to examine all the issues involved and make the according decisions.
Vladimir Putin: Good.
Coming back once more to the question of financing, this work is a large-scale undertaking that requires timely reaction – reaction in the agriculture sector, above all in the poultry industry, and also in the Health [and Social Development] Ministry, of course. We must ensure that funds are made available in time for carrying out vaccinations.