MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - Russia and Mexico have similar approaches on many global affairs and actively cooperate on a number of international platforms, including the UN, Russian Ambassador to Mexico Viktor Koronelli said in an interview published by the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper on Thursday.
"Delegations from our countries are interacting closely on many international platforms, including the UN. For instance, Mexico has backed a number of Russian initiatives aimed at preventing the deployment of weapons to space, at ensuring international information security, and at preventing glorification of Nazism," Koronelli said.
"At the same time, our approaches to certain items on the global agenda differ," he said.
"First and foremost, this concerns the disarmament dossier, as Mexico is a leader of 'the anti-nuclear movement,' it has the most radical stance and calls for the quickest, most complete, and unconditional liquidation of nuclear weapons. This doesn't mean, however, that we don't have dialogue with Mexican partners on these issues," Koronelli said.
"Mexico has applied to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2021-2022," he said.
"The election is scheduled to take place in June 2020. The country [Mexico] has gained the support of all Latin American and Caribbean states. We're expecting to expand our cooperation with Mexico with constructive contacts in the Security Council if it wins the election," Koronelli said.
He also said he had "an exclusively positive" opinion of the current state of Russian-Mexican relations and noted "the ongoing intensive political dialogue between the foreign ministries of our countries and regular inter-parliamentary exchanges."
"Cultural and humanitarian contacts have been traditionally intensive," Koronelli said.
"Lastly, Mexico is our second biggest trade partner in the Latin American region after Brazil; bilateral trade turnover neared $2.9 billion in 2019," he said.
Koronelli also mentioned the pending visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Mexico and its specific features.
"Our foreign ministers have repeatedly visited Mexico, and Mexican foreign ministers have been to Russia. Sergei Lavrov paid the last official visit to Mexico in 2010," he said.
"In my opinion, the upcoming trip is special: this is the first visit on such a level since the new Mexican administration took office on December 1, 2018. Besides, the visit will take place in the year of the 130th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our countries [to be observed on December 11], which gives special meaning to this remarkable date," Koronelli said.