AlHijjah 6, 1432, Nov 2, 2011, SPA -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday said his country and Russia should team up to reduce the effects of the world financial crisis, for their own sakes and for other nations, according to dpa. "I would hope that our nations can combine in efforts to resolve the world financial crisis," Lee said in comments reported by the Interfax news agency from St Petersburg. Speaking at the opening of a Russo-South Korean economic forum in the Baltic port, Russian President Dmitry Medevedev said technology transfer between the two countries was growing, and would spur economic growth throughout the Far East. "This modernization process, which we can accelerate even more, will also raise the level of education and public health, and protect the environment," Medvedev said. The two presidents were set to meet later in the day for talks on the security situation in the Korean peninsula, and on the possible construction of a natural gas pipeline from Russia's Pacific coast provinces to energy-hungry South Korea. Coordinating a restart of the currently stalled international talks on North Korea's nuclear arsenal would be another key topic in the Lee-Medvedev talks, Russian officials said. A Kremlin statement said Aleksei Miller, chairman of Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom, would also join the talks. Both Medvedev and Lee were scheduled to travel to Cannes in France to participate in a Group of 20 nations meeting on Thursday.
