Comment by the Information and Press Department on the working visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Leonard She Okitundu

On March 22-24, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Leonard She Okitundu will be in Russia on a working visit at the invitation of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. 

During talks on March 22, the ministers will discuss the future development of Russian-Congolese relations. They will focus on strengthening their political, trade, economic, humanitarian and other fields of cooperation. The ministers will also hold a substantive exchange of views on key international and regional issues, highlighting the goals of combating terrorism and extremism and defusing crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other crisis areas in Africa, primarily the Great Lakes region, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Libya, as well as in the Middle East.

Russian-Congolese relations have been traditionally friendly. There is an opportunity to develop mutually beneficial cooperation in mining and geological exploration, energy and agriculture. The training of Congolese professionals at Russian universities is a major element of our efforts to strengthen Russian-Congolese partnership.

Russia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo maintain intensive political dialogue. It is based on the similarity of views on global developments and similar approaches to current international issues, including the development of a multipolar world order as a fairer and safer system of international relations based on international law with the UN playing the key role. We also maintain fruitful interaction at the UN and other multilateral platforms.

We hope that practical steps towards actively promoting diversified cooperation between Russia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be coordinated during this visit.