Putin awards Abbas Order of Friendship

Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas here on Thursday the Order of Friendship in appreciation of his contribution to the bilateral ties. Following his talks with the Palestinian president, Putin said that his country appreciate Abbas's role in development of relations not only in the political domain but also in humanitarian and cultural fields. Also, Putin pointed out that the talks included development of situation in the region and current events in Syria, as well as ways of bolstering mutual relations. In the same context, the two sides also discussed possibility of implementing construction of a power plant project in the West Bank, Russia's Interfax News Agency quoted sources at ministry of economic development as saying. The sources noted that Moscow is also studying possibility of providing the Palestinian side with priorities concerned with fees and customs tariffs, adding importance of signing of a free trade agreement between the two sides in order to achieve this goal. Moreover, Russia's ITAR-TASS News Agency attributed Abbas' assertion in importance to start taking preparatory steps to achieve strategic partnership between Russia and Palestine, which include political and economic sides.