Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a joint news conference following talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Than Swe, Moscow, September 14

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have held talks with my colleague, Than Swe, as part of regular contacts between our diplomatic offices.

We maintain an intensive political dialogue. On September 7, 2022, President of Russia Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Chairman of the State Administration Council and Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing, during which they discussed the entire range of bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on the regional situation and international affairs.

As a follow-up to that meeting between our leaders, today we talked about all spheres of our cooperation, focusing on issues that needed to be given additional attention. We held an in-depth discussion of all current questions. We welcomed the intensive exchange of delegations between our ministries and agencies, prosecutor general’s offices, parliaments and central election commissions, as well as growing ties between many Russian regions and Myanmar.

We emphasised trade and economic issues, where business has somewhat declined for objective reasons. We discussed ways to reverse this trend and to resume positive growth. The Intergovernmental Russia-Myanmar Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation is scheduled to hold a regular meeting in 2023. We agreed that both sides would prepare specific proposals to help us pick up the pace.

We pointed out special cooperation prospects in energy, civilian nuclear projects, civil aviation, telecommunications and information technology, as well as space exploration, notably remote earth sensing, agriculture, the food industry, and transport infrastructure.

We had a separate discussion on the financial and banking sector, including our central banks. Our Myanmar friends attend events like the annual Moscow Conference on International Security, which Myanmar participates in regularly. In 2023, Chairman of the State Administration Council and Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing addressed the participants via videoconference. Our friends also take part in the International Military-Technical Forum Army-2023 organised by the Defence Ministry and the regular events of the Security Council, which were held in Russia in May 2023.

We are increasing our humanitarian exchanges, organising cultural projects, and holding anniversary celebrations related to the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, which is being marked this year.

We assist Myanmar in educating professionals, with more than 7,000 citizens of Myanmar receiving an education in the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation. They work pro-actively for the benefit of their homeland.

Tourism is of interest to Russian citizens who want to know more about Myanmar. Direct air service between Myanmar and, at this point, Novosibirsk, that was resumed the other day after a long time, will help to develop these relations. In any event, this is an important step forward.  

We discussed international and regional affairs. Our positions align on most key global issues and matters related to international contacts in Southeast Asia. We cooperate closely at the UN.

As for regional matters, trends in the Asia Pacific region are not quite favourable. We reaffirmed jointly with Myanmar the need to create an inclusive, effective and reliable security infrastructure in the region, an infrastructure capable of ensuring sustainable development among all states, without exception, in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific region as a whole on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis. These opportunities are provided by the mechanisms, created over many decades, with ASEAN. Regrettably, they are being tested in the context of the West’s “Indo-Pacific strategies.” The West is trying to introduce in the Asia Pacific certain bloc elements and mechanisms aimed at containing other countries, which compete and want to strip ASEAN of its traditional leading role in security and cooperation in this region.  

NATO’s openly declared plans to establish a foothold and its own rules there are particularly dangerous. We noted that all of the countries at the recent East Asia Summit in Jakarta (one of the most important ASEAN events) called for preserving ASEAN-centric architecture. We will continue to support them in this respect.

We confirmed our appreciation of the balanced, objective position of our Myanmar friends in connection with what is happening in Ukraine. The West, through the hands of the Kiev regime, has unleashed a war against the Russian Federation and created a direct threat to Russia’s security. They are encouraging the destruction of all things Russian on the territories that our ancestors developed over centuries, where they lived and built cities, ports, schools and churches. We have explained the steps we are taking in this connection. We have also evaluated the proposals sent to us by most countries from the Global Majority and the Global South with what we see as sincere consideration. We have set out our attitude in detail on many occasions.

We are ready to consider any serious proposals that will take into account the realities on the ground and the Russian Federation’s basic, legitimate interests.

On the whole, we had a good and useful conversation. I would like to thank my colleague once again.