The 46th Munich Security Conference opened in the German Bavarian capital on Friday, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.

The three-day forum will focus on the future of European and global security.

Earlier Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, would attend a plenary session on Saturday. Discussions will touch upon Russia's initiative on a European security treaty.

Nesterenko said Russia expects to discuss its draft pan-European security treaty with conference participants. However, so far, the West has been lukewarm toward the idea. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen rebuffed President Dmitry Medvedev's project, saying it was not necessary.

The Munich conference is a discussion site traditionally attended by top representatives of several countries.

Russia has attended the annual conference for more than 10 years. Then Russian president Vladimir Putin made a speech during the 2007 conference, which experts later called "a statement on Russia's return to the international stage," assessing it as a turn in Russia's foreign policy.

MUNICH, February 5 (RIA Novosti)