ST. PETERSBURG, May 27. /TASS/. The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) maintains good relations with Russia and is grateful for the country’s political, diplomatic and financial support, High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel Moratinos told TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman in an interview.
"We have been always very much grateful to the contribution of Russia to the Alliance, politically, diplomatically, even financially. They give us support," he said.
"And I think today, now, we are in good relationship and good conversation. And we are identifying certain areas where we can work together," Moratinos stated.
Asked to evaluate Russia’s involvement in the projects of the Alliance of Civilizations, Moratinos replied: "It had been from the beginning a very immediate, you know, response, positive response."
"I remember when I was foreign minister with my dear friend, colleague, [Russian Foreign Minister] Sergey Lavrov," he continued. "In one of his first visits to Madrid, we have just launched this initiative. And he proposed to me to sign an article, a joint article."
"And we signed an article. I think it's good reading today. If you go back to, you know, the article we both signed… it showed the interest of the Russian Federation to follow and to support the initiative," Moratinos said.
The article ‘The Alliance of Civilizations: In Search of Common Strategy’ was published by the Russian daily Izvestia and Spanish daily ABC on October 10, 2005.
The Alliance of Civilizations is an international organization operating under the auspices of the United Nations since 2005 with the aim of enhancing international interaction against extremism through inter-ethnic, intercultural and inter-religious dialogue and cooperation.