The key facts

  • Peruvian Foreign Minister Carlos Espina's visit to Moscow is scheduled for November 6–10
  • Lavrov's and Espina's talks will take place on November 9
  • Zakharova said the visit's goal is to give impetus to expanding ties between the two countries

The announced visit

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks in Moscow on November 9 with Peruvian Foreign Minister Carlos Espina. This was announced by Maria Zakharova, official spokesperson of the Russian foreign ministry, RIA Novosti reports (based on Gazeta.Ru materials). According to her, Espina will be in Moscow on a visit from November 6 to 10.

What they plan to discuss

Zakharova noted that the visit is intended to give impetus to expanding ties between the two countries. According to her, the ministers will consider ways to intensify political dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, trade issues, joint projects in the material sphere, improvement of the treaty and legal framework, as well as a number of other topical issues. No specific agreements or outcomes have been announced at this point — this concerns a plan for upcoming consultations, not decisions already adopted.

Contact against the backdrop of other diplomatic activity

The announcement of talks with the Peruvian counterpart came amid a series of recent contacts by Lavrov. Earlier, he said he had a short but, in his assessment, decent conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers' summit in Atlanta: they discussed bilateral relations and interaction within the G20 and APEC frameworks. In addition, the minister held the first full-fledged meeting with the Japanese foreign minister in five years. What these events have in common is only the shared participant — Espina's upcoming visit is not directly related to them.