Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, who arrived here on Monday, is to hold talks with his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado on Tuesday and then meet with Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

This is the Russian Foreign Minister''s second visit to the westernmost country of the European Union (EU) over the past two years.

Tuesday''s talks will focus on bilateral relations and international problems. The sides are to analyse prospects for the development of cooperation in economic, scientific, technical, and cultural fields.

Among international matters, the sides are to discuss the proposal made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about holding a summit on the elaboration of a new architecture of international security, relations between Russia and the EU in the light of the results of the summit at Nice, the situation in the Middle East, in Iraq, Afghanistan, in the Balkans, Iran''s nuclear programme, and the situation in the Caucasus.

In recent years Russia and Portugal have been regularly exchanging top-level visits. In 2004 and 2007, the then Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Lisbon. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates visited Moscow in2007, and Portuguese Foreign Minister visited Russia in 2005 and 2007.