A meeting between the foreign ministers of Iceland and Russia has resulted in part in the agreement to sign an adoption treaty between the two countries.
Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson told Eyjan that he first brought up the idea to Sergei Lavrov when they met in Oslo last year. The minister said he was grateful for the suggestion, as adoptions from Russia to Iceland can take a very long time to process.
Now talks have reached the stage where Russia is fully ready to sign an adoption treaty with Iceland. While the matter falls under the Russian Ministry of the Interior first and foremost, Lavrov said that he would be putting his best people together to work out the terms of a treaty and expedite the procedure. Össur added that Russia has recently made an adoption agreement with France, and he expects the agreement with Russia to take much the same form.
The Russians have had some strict standards when it comes to adopting their children, Össur said, for example the insistence that the child be given dual citizenship. Össur is optimistic that the treaty will help make the process faster and easier for Icelandic parents wanting to adopt a child for their own.
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