Russian foreign minister says March 19 meeting will be at ministerial level.
By ASSOCIATED PRESSlavrov 311(photo credit: AP)
A high-level meeting of the Middle East quartet will take place in Moscow next month, Russia's foreign minister saysSergey Lavrov said the March 19 meeting would be at the ministerial level.Lavrov made the announcement Wednesday at a news conference with EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton.The quartet consists of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, and is seeking strategies for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Russia has been lobbying for a Moscow peace conference since the Annapolis conference in 2007.Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu traveled to Moscow last week, and a senior official in his delegation said the prime minister made it clear to the Russians that Israel had no objection to the idea of such a conference, and was "very flexible" regarding how to relaunch talks with the Palestinians.Herb Keinon contributed to this report
