Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at his office in Addis Ababa on Wednesday September 17.

The Russian Prime Minister who is on a working visit in Ethiopia discussed bilateral issues as well as regional and global matters with the Ethiopian Prime Minister as well as Foreign Minister, including “the need to scale up bilateral relations in various areas, particularly in the areas of energy, mining, railways, trade and investment.

At the end of his meeting with the Hailemariam Desalegn, Mr. Sergey Lavrov issued a statement that indicated the two nations “intend to act together on international issues on resolving conflicts by peaceful means, avoiding unilateral actions, especially the unilateral use of force”.

Read below the statement (from Russian Foreign Ministry office):

Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov statement for press after the talks with the Prime-Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

We had a very important meeting with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desalegn. And together with my colleague and friend, the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia Tedros Adhanom, we presented the ideas for further developing our bilateral relationship and our cooperation on international issues.

On the bilateral front the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Trade and Scientific Cooperation is working well. They met last July, and agreed on quite a number of important directions where they will be following up together with quite a number of Russian and Ethiopian economic partners, including sectors of energy, mineral recourses and others. We also agreed that the draft agreements should be expedited on investment protection and some other things, including on issues related to military technical cooperation, which is a very important element of Russian-Ethiopian partnership.

We also reiterated our intend to act together on international issues on resolving conflicts by peaceful means, avoiding unilateral actions, especially the unilateral use of force. We strongly support the African Union leadership on the efforts to resolve conflicts in Africa. We appreciate a very big and active role of Ethiopia in promoting peacekeeping and peacemaking efforts in the Horn of Africa and in other parts of the continent.
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