HH The Amir Meets Chairperson of Russian Federation Council

His Highness The Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met at noon on Monday with the Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko at the Headquarters of the Council in the Russian capital Moscow.

At the outset of the meeting Matviyenko welcomed HH The Amir saying his visit to the Council ''is a great honour that will give a positive push to the relations between the two countries.'' She explained that the two countries have joint cooperation and coordination in various fields, lauding HH The Amir personal role in supporting and developing them. 

In a related context, she said the political dialogue between the two countries would enhance and spread peace and security in the Middle East, specially under the difficult circumstances the region is going through, underlining the need for the exchange of views to find a solution to the issues of terror, the crisis in Syria and Yemen as well as the situation in Iraq. She pointed to the importance of the role of Qatar in the region.

Matviyenko also referred to Russia's support of the political dialogue between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Islamic Republic of Iran, explaining that ''Russia is against attacks on embassies and diplomatic missions.'' Concluding, she once again thanked HH The Amir for visiting the Council, underlining the importance of the visit and its contribution to an ongoing and continuous coordination in various fields. She expressed support for the Qatari initiative for holding Russia Year of Culture in Qatar in 2018 and Qatar Year of Culture in Russia in the same year as well as benefiting from and exchange of sport expertise in organizing the world soccer cups in 2018 and 2022.

For his part, HH The Amir expressed thanks for the invitation extended to him to visit the Council, pointing out to the importance of relations between Qatar and Russia and the ongoing and continuous coordination between the two countries. In this respect, he lauded the bilateral cooperation in the field on natural gas.

During the meeting HH The Amir also referred to the enhancement of cultural cooperation and trade exchange between the two countries as well as in the field of the exchange of expertise in the sport field specially the organizing of the Word Cup in Russia in 2018 and in Qatar in 2022.

HH The Amir pointed to the importance of the continuation of political dialogue between the two sides due to the accelerating developments in the Middle East and the work for bringing closer viewpoints regarding some regional and international issues specially in the shadow of the two sides' agreement on the danger of terrorism in the region and the need to fight it given that the Middle East region was harmed by it the most. In this respect HH The Amir underlined the need for finding a political solution in Syria in accordance with the demands of the Syrian people.

The meeting reviewed relations between the two countries and means of enhancing them and discussed the situation in the regional and international arenas specially in Syria, Palestine, Libya and Yemen.

The meeting was attended by Their Excellencies members of the official delegation.

On the Russian side, it was attended by a number of the Federation Council's members.