Mr Minister,

Friends,

I am delighted to welcome you to Moscow. Our meeting today is the next stage of the talks we held in Maputo on March 7, during my visit to your beautiful country.

Mozambique is a time-tested partner of Russia. Our relations include the deep historical roots of friendship between our peoples. We are actively cooperating and coordinating our moves on the international stage, including at the UN and in other multilateral formats, where we uphold the fundamentals of international law.

We are happy that the high level of strategic interaction at the political level has boosted our trade and economic ties. We have established an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation, which convened for the first time this year. Mr Minister, I am confident that your participation in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which was very active, will promote the implementation of mutually beneficial projects between our companies.

Today we will be discussing further steps to promote our interaction in all areas.

Welcome.