Russia to help Greece tackle crisis: Lavrov

Athens – Russia has said it will support Greece’s efforts in overcoming the current economic crisis through further development of bilateral cooperation in several sectors.

“We support the Greek government’s efforts to overcome the economic difficulties,” reported Xinhua citing visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Wednesday here during talks with Greece’s political leadership.

“We will support these efforts in any way we can.”

On the agenda of discussions were bilateral and international issues such as the prospects of Russian investments in the Greek privatisation program, Greece’s upcoming EU presidency in the first half of 2014 and developments in Syria.

Greek President Karolos Papoulias expressed confidence that Lavrov’s visit would give a boost to trade and economic ties between the two countries, and in particular the flow of Russian tourists to Greece.

Tourism and energy are the two sectors in which Athens and Moscow are hoping to boost their collaboration.

Greece pledged that one of the priorities of its EU presidency would be the enhancement of EU-Russian relations.