Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his G8 counterparts will gather on Tuesday in Gatineau, Canada, to discuss nuclear non-proliferation and Middle East issues.
The G8 group of leading industrialized nations comprises Russia, Germany, Canada, France, the U.K., Italy, the U.S. and Japan.
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Andrei Nesterenko, said the issue of nuclear non-proliferation was "particularly pressing in the light of the forthcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Washington and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference to be held this spring."
Discussions on nuclear dossiers of Iran and North Korea were also included in the agenda.
Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said his country would push for tougher sanctions against Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
Nesterenko reiterated that Russia shows "consistent support for continuing dialog with Tehran with a purpose to find mutually acceptable ways to deal with the current problems."
However, he said, sanctions are not ruled out "if no visible progress is made."
The Russian foreign minister will open the discussion on Middle East with his report on the meeting of the Middle East Quartet of negotiators, held in Moscow on March 19.
A total of four statements — on non-proliferation, on Afghanistan and on social and economic development of the Afghan-Pakistani border, as well as the chairperson's statement — are expected to be adopted during the meeting.
CHELSEA (Canada), March 30 (RIA Novosti)
