Lee to visit Russia, meet with leader

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will visit Russia next week to hold a summit with President Dmitry Medvedev and attend an international conference, the presidential office announced yesterday.

Lee “plans to visit Russia from Sept. 9-10 to attend the second World Political Forum in Yaroslavl at the invitation of Medvedev and deliver a keynote speech,” the Blue House said in a press release.

Lee and Medvedev are scheduled to hold a summit Sept. 10 on the sidelines of the conference in Yaroslavl, it added.

The meeting will be their fourth summit.

The leaders plan to “discuss ways to deepen a strategic cooperative partnership between the two nations on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations,” it said.

According to the Blue House, they will also have broad discussions on regional security issues and how to promote substantial cooperation on issues of mutual concern, including the upcoming G-20 Seoul Summit in November, Russia’s economic modernization drive, and energy and natural resources development, especially in the eastern-most Siberian regions.

Lee will return to Seoul Sept. 11.

Yonhap