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On July 1, 2011, during his visit to Paraguay, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, met with the republic’s Vice-President Federico Franco at the official residence of this second important person in the state in Asuncion.

Taking part in the audience were also Mr. S. Reschikov, Russia’s charge d’affaires in Paraguay, Mr. D. Kravtsov, director of Russia’s Federal Agency for Cooperation representation, and Mr. M. Palacio of the DECR.

Metropolitan Hilarion congratulated Mr. Franco on the 200th anniversary of the independence of Paraguay. He also told the vice-president about the life of the Russian Orthodox Church today, her presence in Latin America, especially in Paraguay. The vice-president, in his turn, stressed that the leaders of the republic attached great importance to the visit of such a high-ranking representative of the Moscow Patriarchate.

As a token of the meeting, the DECR chairman presented Mr. Franco with a copy of Patriarch Kirill’s book Freedom and Responsibility in Spanish.

After the meeting, Metropolitan Hilarion visited the historical compound ‘House of Independence’ and laid a wreath at the memorial to the heroes of the war for independence in the presence of their descendants. His also saw of the museum exposition and signed the Distinguished Guest Book.

DECR Communication Service