Республика Бурунди
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks during talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation of the Republic of Burundi Albert Shingiro, Sochi, March 23, 2023
Mr Minister,
Colleagues,
We are delighted to welcome you to Russia, to Sochi, a city that has blossomed in recent years and evokes great interest among our international guests.
We value the relations between Russia and Burundi, which, if we take diplomatic ties, marked 60th anniversary last year. They have always been friendly and based on mutual respect.
We are grateful to President of Burundi Évariste Ndayishimiye, who sent a special message at the end of July to confirm his participation in the second Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg. We will certainly prepare a good, productive programme for his visit.
I would like to express satisfaction with our close interaction and coordination at the UN on the international agenda. Russia and Burundi treat the positions our countries promote at the UN with mutual respect.
Today we would like to address specific prospects of our cooperation considering the problems of the African continent discussed at the UN Security Council. It is in our common interest to increase the level and expand the volume of trade, economic and investment cooperation. There were some promising plans in this area that have not been implemented yet. This is also among the topics I would like to discuss today.