Yakovenko told journalists about Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, where he attended the 32nd conference of the foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states. Russia has observer status in the OIC.
While he was in Sanaa, the minister had talks with his Yemeni counterpart, Abu Bakr al-Qurbi, as well as with President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Prime Minister Abdel Qader Bajammal, Yakovenko reported. He said the sides had condemned terrorism, in whatever form, and reiterated their commitment to playing a proactive role in global anti-terror efforts.
When discussing developments in the Middle East, Lavrov and the high-ranking Yemeni officials stressed the need to implement the road map peace plan, and, specifically, to create conditions for Israel's planned withdrawal of its settlements from the Gaza Strip and northern areas of the West Bank, Yakovenko said.
"This should be followed up by a full-blooded resumption of the political process on the basis of the road map, leading to final-status negotiations and the creation of an independent, viable Palestine, co-existing with Israel in peace," the spokesman said.
The sides also called for reinvigorated efforts to settle the crisis in Iraq and to restore stability in the country as soon as possible, Yakovenko said. He said they had underlined the importance of the international community's efforts to help Iraq meet the challenges of the transitional period and expressed their support for an appeal to the interim Iraqi government to promote national reconciliation through broad dialogue between the country's different ethnic and religious communities.
