Moscow to host Russia-U.S. summit on Sept 3-4

(Interfax – LOUGH ERNE, UK, June 18, 2013) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama have agreed to hold a Russia-U.S. summit in Moscow on September 3-4.

“In order to nail down a constructive nature of our relations we are going to uphold regular contacts at the highest level and hold a Russian-U.S. summit in Moscow on September 2-4, 2013 to discuss in more detail the whole range of bilateral and international relations,” a joint statement signed in the wake of a Putin-Obama meeting on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Lough Erne.

The parties also agreed to expand the dialog between Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

“We also decided to expand the dialog between the Russian prime minister and U.S. vice president on our joint agenda, including the discussion of development and diversification of trade and investment ties called assist the improvement of relations and economic growth of both countries,” the statement reads.

Putin and Obama also agreed to launch a regular ‘2+2’ dialog between the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries in order to discuss strategic stability, including security and joint threats to Russia and the United States.

“In order to intensify security cooperation we ordered the security councils of Russia and the United States to maintain a regular dialog to discuss issues of mutual interest,” the statement reads.

The two presidents called on Russian and U.S. public figures and businessmen to fine-tune close relations in the interests of the further rapprochement of the two countries.

Russia and the U.S. confirmed the readiness to deepen bilateral cooperation based on the principles of mutual respect, equality and real consideration of each other’s interests. “Being guided by such an approach, we reached today and understanding on the positive bilateral agenda that covers strategically important issues of arms control, non-proliferation and international security, the expansion of trade and investments, reaction to global challenges and threats, fight against terrorism and violent extremism, as well as the buildup of ties between public and people,” the statement reads.