Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks before talks with his counterpart from South Sudan Barnaba Marial Benjamin, Moscow, September 9, 2015

We are pleased to welcome you to Moscow. This is already your third visit in a short span of time. In May and December 2014, we discussed many important issues. I’d like to emphasise that we want to continue our political dialogue, and our trade, economic and cultural cooperation. During our past talks we felt that our cooperation potential is fairly substantial, and our task is to create the most favourable conditions for utilising it.

We sincerely wish for you to overcome the crisis in your country as soon as possible. We support the efforts of international mediators, primarily from Africa. We support the development of neighbourly, friendly relations between the Republic of South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan. We hope that tomorrow’s talks between you and Foreign Minister of Sudan Ibrahim Gandur in Moscow will be useful and productive.

Welcome to Moscow!