Metropolitan Kirill meets with Norwegian Minister for Environmental Protection

On 27 February 2006, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad met with Norwegian Minister for Environmental Protection Ms Helen Bjornoy in the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. Norwegian Minister came to Moscow to open Russian-Norwegian seminar on the influence of petroleum and gas production on ecosystems of the Barents Sea.

Mr. Oyvind Nordsletten, Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Norway to Russia, and Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations also participated in the meeting.

Metropolitan Kirill told the Norwegian minister about life and work of the Russian Orthodox Church. Among the questions discussed were church-state relations, interchristian and interreligious dialogue. The participants exchanged their opinions on the participantion of the Church in settling topical environmental issues.