Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold talks with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen and the leadership of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.
Lavrov's visit to Ethiopia will conclude his tour of Africa, and then he will head to a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Foreign Ministers in Tashkent.
Food and energy
The military operation in Ukraine has already become one of the key topics of the Russian foreign minister's talks and press conferences in Africa. It is likely that the discussions in Ethiopia will not be an exception, taking into account how the situation around Ukraine is affecting the food situation on the African continent.
Lavrov has already repeatedly stressed that, despite the Western restrictions, Russian grain exporters will continue to fulfill their obligations under international contracts with African countries. The minister also expressed gratitude to African partners for their balanced position on the conflict in Ukraine.
The parties will also discuss topical bilateral issues. Among them - the prospects for joint projects in the energy sector and infrastructure. Thus, earlier Rosatom State Corporation and the Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Ethiopia signed a road map to establish cooperation in the implementation of projects for the construction of a nuclear power plant and nuclear technology center in the republic.
Preparing for the summit
Preparation for the second Russia-Africa summit in 2023 will be one of the main topics of the upcoming negotiations. The foreign minister said the main areas of the preparatory work will be discussed at the meeting with the AU administration headquartered in Addis Ababa. "We are planning to create several preparatory groups on specific areas of the agenda of the future summit," Lavrov explained. - "This will include trade and investment, of course, the development of natural resources, energy, food security and issues of humanitarian, cultural and educational cooperation in addition to the international agenda."
Security threats
The sides will probably touch upon cooperation in the security sphere, including in view of the ongoing difficult situation on Ethiopia's border with Somalia, which is facing battles with units of the Al-Shabab terrorist group, as well as on the border with Sudan, where clashes between government troops of the two countries have taken place since June 27 because of a border dispute.
Military-technical cooperation is one of the key areas of cooperation between Moscow and Addis Ababa. Previously, the two sides agreed on additional regulatory documents that would allow them to more effectively promote dialogue in the area of military supplies.
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Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS