The working group for cooperation between Foreign Ministry and Russian Orthodox Church meets for its 7th session

The working group for cooperation between the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Orthodox Church met on May 29 for its 7^th session, at the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the department, and Deputy foreign Minister G. Karasin chaired the meeting.

The participants reviewed the work of the group carried out in the period since its previous meeting on September 29, 2005.

They dealt with problems involved in protecting the religious and cultural rights of our compatriot outside Russia through international organizations and the state of Orthodoxy in several countries.

The church side informed the meeting about the preparations for and conduct of interreligious events in 2006.

The working group will hold its next meeting later in 2006.