Foreign Minister Lavrov: Russia from the outset presumed that the elections in Afghanistan are a major part of the Bonn Process, which was approved at an appropriate UN conference. We actively backed the decision of the next meeting in the framework of this process, which was adopted in Berlin in April on the need to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in Afghanistan simultaneously.

At the same time, when in the summer the Transitional Government of Afghanistan, and the United Nations Mission in that country found it advisable out of security considerations to begin with the presidential elections in the autumn and to postpone the parliamentary elections to the next year, we took note of this. We note that the presidential elections held in Afghanistan on October 9 were marked by a high voter turnout and the absence of any serious incidents linked to their security. On the whole, the elections have demonstrated the high desire of the Afghans to foster a peaceful life and elect bodies of authority.

We know from the media about certain irregularities which occurred during the elections, and about the demarche of fifteen presidential candidates. I am not going to draw any conclusions regarding these facts - let us wait for the results of the completion of the work of the Central Election Commission of Afghanistan, which are due to be announced. As before, we consider it extremely important not to delay holding the parliamentary elections, which will have a decisive significance for national consensus and the enhancement of stability in this still troubled country.

Question: What could you add on the results of your trip to India and Iran?

Foreign Minister Lavrov: In the course of my repeated meetings with media representatives over the last few days I already spoke in detail about the results of my talks in New Delhi and Teheran. Briefly I shall add that India and Iran are important partners of Russia, with whom Moscow has established many-sided relations and cooperation, as well as a dialogue on regional and international problems. Our approaches to what the system of international relations should look like are close or coincide: we are for reinforcing the central role of the UN and strengthening the collective elements in world affairs.

Touching on the theme of Russian-Indian relations, I would like to say that with the Indian friends we discussed the entire range of bilateral economic ties. We agreed that it is necessary to substantially increase their investment component and shift from trade in and exchange of primary goods to cooperation in the field of high technologies, to the realization of joint projects in this field and to the building up of cooperation in the energy and other growth areas. We expect that the next regular meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Indian Commission on Commercial, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation in November of the current year will help prepare a solid package of documents for the upcoming visit of the President of Russia to New Delhi at the beginning of December.

In Teheran agreement was also reached to speed up the convocation of the bilateral trade-and-economic commission, meetings of its cochairmen are due. A number of agreements are prepared for signature, including a treaty on mutual protection of investments, and a memorandum on the fight against illegal drug trade. Moreover, many contracts between Russian and Iranian companies are at the concluding stage of negotiation. In case of intensification of the work of the appropriate departments, concrete results can be expected before the end of the year from the meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission and from the professional vigor of Russian and Iranian business people.

At the talks in Iran an exchange of views on the Iranian nuclear program was continued. This question is being discussed at the IAEA Board of Governors, which in September adopted a resolution calling upon Iran to definitively clarify the questions that the IAEA still has concerning Teheran's previous nuclear activities. The resolution also contains an appeal to the Iranians to continue the commitment they have voluntarily assumed to freeze their uranium enrichment program. We reaffirmed our position, emphasizing that it is in the interest of Iran to cooperate with the Agency on all these issues.