Russia, Belarus hold talks

SOCHI, Russia, March 21 (UPI) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Belarusian counterpart spent Saturday looking for ways to cooperate on trade and economic issues.

Meeting at the mountainous Krasnaya Polyana ski community, Medvedev and Alexander Lukashenko discussed international and inter-regional cooperation issues informally, ITAR-TASS reported.

"The day before yesterday we agreed that we would begin with the discussion of problems of financial aspects of trade and economic cooperation, after which we would meet to discuss inter-regional cooperation, integration processes going on between our two countries and in Eurasia, as well as international problems," Medvedev said.

Lukashenko said a number of problems remained to be resolved by the two leaders.

"That time we discussed anti-crisis measures and the economic situation, but a package of problems remains to be discussed. It would be very good to discuss foreign political aspects, in order to avoid differences in interpretation," Lukashenko said.