🎙 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at a meeting of the Foreign Ministry’s Business Council (Moscow, June 30, 2026)

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💬 Sergey Lavrov: Today we will discuss current issues of the development of Russian-African economic cooperation, primarily in the context of preparations for the Third Russia-Africa Summit, which is scheduled to take place in Moscow in late October.

The African continent, as a centre of a more just #MultipolarWorld thar is taking shape, is certainly experiencing a second awakening.

African nations attained political independence in the 1960s with the Soviet Union’s pro-active assistance. Today, Africa is consistently strengthening its international standing and working for economic independence with the assistance of regional integration associations and the African Union, which includes all African countries.

Our country provided comprehensive and free assistance to the struggle of African countries against colonialism and greatly contributed to the development and strengthening of their statehood.

Today, we continue to support the African countries’ efforts to strengthen their sovereignty in all spheres, including the right to independently manage their natural resources and choose their development paths.

We continue to expand the scope of our cooperation in keeping with the decisions of the Russia-Africa summits held in Sochi in 2019 and in St Petersburg in 2023.

📈 The further strengthening of our trade, economic and investment cooperation is one of our indisputable priorities. Russia’s trade with African countries exceeded $27 billion last year. It has been growing very fast, but there is room for improvement in terms of absolute figures. We will continue to make use of all available opportunities to stimulate cooperation in this area.

The development of our practical cooperation with African countries is facilitated by our intensive political dialogue. Over the past 18 months, the Leaders of African countries have made 17 visits to Russia.

🤝 Russia’s broadening diplomatic presence on the continent is promoting our relations. Last year, we opened our embassies in Niger, Sierra Leone and South Sudan and established a Department for Partnership with Africa. Next on the agenda is the opening of our diplomatic missions in Gambia, Liberia, Togo and the Union of the Comoros.

In December 2025, the Second Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum was held in Cairo, where it was agreed to prepare an ambitious Action Plan as a strategic guideline for the next three-year period (2027-2029). We hope to adopt it at the aforementioned Third Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow this October.

Today, we plan to hold an in-depth discussion on possible actions to facilitate the operation of Russian businesses in the African market.

#RussiaAfrica