MOSCOW. November 1 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed bilateral relations and a number of international issues in Hanoi, the Russian Foreign Ministry has reported.
"Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met on the sidelines of the ASEAN events in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on October 30," the ministry said.
Lavrov and Clinton focused on the timeline of upcoming bilateral contacts at the top and high levels, the ministry said. "In this context, the ministers discussed the implementation of the key agreements that were reached during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's official visit to the U.S. on June 22-24 this year," the ministry said.
They also considered the work of the Russian-U.S. presidential commission and a bilateral agenda, including cooperation in the areas of business and innovations, culture, education, and humanities.
The two "exchanged their views on the process of ratification of the New START Treaty in both countries," it said.
Lavrov and Clinton also touched upon the Iranian nuclear program, control over weapons in Europe, common evaluation of missile challenges, including within the framework of the NATO-Russia Council, the Middle East peace process, and the situation in Afghanistan and the South Caucasus, it said.
The two also addressed preparations for an upcoming top-level NATO-Russia Council meeting in Lisbon and an OSCE summit in Astana, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.