UNITED NATIONS, September 24. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis at the UN headquarters, a TASS correspondent reported.

The ministers shook hands at the start of the meeting, and Lavrov jokingly expressed hope that the Swiss minister would not be fired for taking a photo with him. "I hope you won't be fired for this photo. Although you are not part of the European Union," he said. The sides discussed preparations for the ministerial meeting in Lugano, Switzerland, on December 3-4 this year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, Lavrov held talks with the US secretary of state and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Cuba, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as an informal meeting with the foreign ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states and the president of the UN General Assembly.