Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed via Telegram that the minister will hold talks this Sunday with the leadership of Egypt, the first stopover of his tour.

She stressed that Lavrov arrived in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, as part of his tour during which he also plans to visit Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo.

Earlier, the head of Russian diplomacy, in statements to the African media, said that among his main objectives is to bring Russian and African economic operators closer to their respective markets, and to encourage their participation in large-scale infrastructure projects.

The Foreign Minister also stressed that fostering comprehensive partnership with African countries remains one of the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy, as they are open to further expansion of political and trade ties.

In this regard, he stressed that the Russian side “does not impose anything on anyone, does not educate the lives of others, and has great respect for the sovereignty of African states, their inalienable right to determine their own ways of development. We are firmly committed to the principle of African problems – African solutions,” he noted.

Lavrov emphasized that such an approach to inter-state relations is fundamentally different from the master-slave logic imposed by the former metropolies, which reproduces the obsolete colonial model.

On the other hand, the Russian foreign minister pondered the balanced position of African countries on the conflict situation in and around Ukraine.

“African partners do not approve of the shameless attempts of the United States and its European satellites to dictate their will to the whole world and impose a unipolar world order model on the international community,” Lavrov stressed.

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