Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with Foreign Minister of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Wunna Maung Lwin, Nay Pyi Taw, August 3, 2022

Mr Minister,

Colleagues,

I would like to express gratitude for the hospitality accorded to our delegation. It is gratifying to be in a friendly territory. There have been decades of friendship, cooperation, mutual respect and support in our relations with Myanmar, a good, reliable and long-time partner in the Asia-Pacific Region. In February 2023, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. I am sure that we will celebrate this date in a proper way.

We have a solid foundation for the further development of our cooperation in a broad range of spheres.

We appreciate the traditionally friendly and trust-based nature of our partnership, which is immune to the influence of time-serving foreign policy considerations.

Despite the pandemic, our trade grew by 20 percent in 2021 and by 50 percent in the first six months of 2022, year on year.

We have developed close ties in education and the training of personnel. Over 7,000 Myanmar citizens have been given an opportunity to receive a higher education in Russia.

We have close or similar positions on the majority of current global and regional issues and are closely coordinating our efforts at the UN and other multilateral platforms.

Military and military-technical cooperation is an important part of our relations.

We would like to express solidarity with the efforts of the Prime Minister and Government of Myanmar to normalise and stabilise the situation in the country. We know about the elections to the Assembly of the Union (parliament) scheduled for 2023. We would like to wish you further success in the development of your country and in your efforts to make Myanmar a stronger, more effective and prosperous country.

Thank you for your hospitality. I look forward to a substantive discussion.