Mozambique: Russian Foreign Minister expected in Maputo

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Mozambique: Russian Foreign Minister expected in Maputo

8:02 CAT | 30 May 2023

File photo: Notícias

Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov is visiting Mozambique this Wednesday, where he is scheduled to meet with the Minister of Public Works to discuss bilateral relations and the war in Ukraine, the Maputo authorities announced.

During his trip to the Mozambican capital, Lavrov will meet with Minister Carlos Mesquita, according to a government note.

“The leaders will address the strengthening of friendship, solidarity and cooperation relations, as well as the political, social, economic and security situation of the two countries. They will also exchange views on the war in Ukraine”, reads a statement from the Mozambican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MINEC), in whose facilities the meeting will take place.

The country has taken a position of neutrality, calling for dialogue to end the war from its seat as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a two-year term which began in January.

Mozambique was among the countries that abstained in votes at the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) to condemn the Russian invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Sergei Lavrov is expected to arrive in Maputo today, as part of his tour of African countries.

READ: Kenya and Russia to sign trade pact, President Ruto says

The head of Russian diplomacy kickstarted his visit to Africa on Monday, in Nairobi, where he met with the Kenyan President, William Ruto, and today he was in Bujumbura, Burundi, where he met with his counterpart, Albert Shingiro, and President Évariste Ndayishimiye.

Le Chef de l’Etat S.E @GeneralNeva a reçu en audience ce mardi 30 mai, une délégation russe conduite par le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères de la Fédération de #Russie S.E Amb. Sergei Lavrov en visite au #Burundi. pic.twitter.com/8skPsSv8af

— Ntare Rushatsi House (@NtareHouse) May 30, 2023

On Thursday and Friday, Lavrov is due to participate in a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Cape Town, to prepare for he BRICS summit in August.

Lavrov’s trip also precedes the second Russia-Africa Summit, to be held in St. Petersburg, in July.

The visit to Africa comes after the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, concluded last week a tour of the continent – which included Mozambique -, during which he urged African countries to put an end to their neutrality in relation to war against Ukraine.

Source: Lusa