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Russia for dialogue with new Canadian authorities - official

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MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia intends to pursue a constructive and productive dialogue with Canada's new Conservative authorities following their election win in January, the Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokesman said Friday.

Mikhail Kamynin said the best opportunity to start this dialogue would be during the visit of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Canada on March 5-6.

The Conservative Party's election triumph marked its return to power after 12 years of Liberal rule.

"On the whole, Sergei Lavrov's working visit to Canada is important from the standpoint of a fast... dialogue with the new Conservative government in the interests of maintaining and developing amassed positive points in bilateral relations and consolidating constructive cooperation with Canada in international affairs," Kamynin said.

He said Lavrov was due to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister Peter McKay.

The spokesman said positions of the two countries on many issues of global security were either close or coincided.

Kamynin added that Russian-Canadian interaction in the fight against terrorism had been successfully developing. A bilateral working party on anti-terrorism met last year in November in Moscow.

The official said that trade in 2005 between the two countries had increased by 30% to reach $1.8 billion. The overall volume of Canadian investment in the Russian economy exceeded $1.2 billion with about 17% in direct investment.

Kamynin added that in October 2005 Russia and Canada had signed a bilateral protocol marking the end to negotiations on the former's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

A Russian foreign minister last visited Canada in 2000, but Canadian foreign ministers held meetings in Russia in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

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