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Press release on Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov’s meeting with a delegation from the Polisario Front
On March 23, Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov met in Moscow with a delegation from the Polisario Front led by Mhamed Khadad, head of the Front’s Foreign Affairs Committee. The delegation is in Moscow at the invitation of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies.
Mr Bogdanov and the delegation members had a substantial exchange of views on developments in the situation with the Western Sahara settlement process, including in light of preparations for a UN Security Council meeting in April on renewing the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
Mr Khadad set out in detail the Polisario Front’s views on the current situation with the settlement process. The Front is one of the parties to the Western Sahara conflict.
Mr Bogdanov reiterated Russia’s unchanging position on the need for a mutually acceptable political solution to this long-running problem, based on relevant UN resolutions, and emphasised Moscow’s desire to continue focused work in this area with all interested parties, in particular, with its partners in the Group of Friends of Western Sahara. The meeting participants also noted the need to activate the international community’s concerted efforts to achieve a lasting and fair settlement in Western Sahara, which would meet the fundamental interests of the North African region’s peoples and would help improve the situation in the Maghreb.