Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the 34th meeting of the Council of Heads of Russian Regions at the Foreign Ministry, Moscow, November 18, 2022

Colleagues,

I am delighted to welcome the participants of the regular meeting of the Foreign Ministry’s Council of Heads of Regions of the Russian Federation.

Our previous meeting was devoted to promoting the fuller use of the public diplomacy potential, including through the regions, to advance our country’s interests in the international arena. The reports received from Russia’s constituent entities indicate the relevance of the recommendations we have made: systematic work has been organised with NGOs pursuing a constructive policy, and that effort is already beginning to bear fruit.

An equally relevant item on the agenda today is reformatting international region-to-region ties in the context of adapting Russia's foreign policy to new geopolitical realities.

I will not talk at length about the hybrid war that has been unleashed against our country. At the same time, the vast majority of countries – in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America – have not joined the anti-Russia sanctions because they are guided by their inherent national interests. They include our allies and countries sharing our approaches in the EAEU, the CSTO, the CIS, the SCO, and BRICS, as well as many other countries. Russia continues uninterrupted effort to strengthen equal dialogue and cooperation with those countries in various formats, free from pressure from those who are trying to position themselves as a hegemon.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that today the world is moving towards multipolarity, including in his remarks during the recent meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. This fundamental trend is important and must be taken into account when building region-to-region cooperation, which should be focused on promoting sustainable development of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. We consider it important to support international projects that contribute to strengthening our country's technological sovereignty, developing parallel imports and import substitution, keeping the companies created with the participation of foreign investors afloat, as well as increasing the output of products for the needs of the special military operation.

I would like to note that more than 70 constituent entities of Russia have concluded cooperation agreements with the DPR and the LPR; this work contributes to those republics’ final integration into the Russian national landscape. Assistance to the new Russian regions in establishing their external contacts is now on the agenda.

The following tasks are seen as priorities for regional diplomacy in the context of our current agenda.

The work in support of the Union State is in great demand. Today, 85 Russian regions, including Crimea, are engaged in close trade and economic cooperation with Belarus. It is difficult to overestimate the role of Russian-Belarusian interregional forums held under the auspices of the upper houses of parliaments.

The potential of regional cooperation should be used to the maximum possible extent both within the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS. Russia will hold the presidency of the EAEU in 2023, when efforts will be devoted to developing interaction with third countries and their associations.

The development of interregional ties with friendly states, not only from among neighbouring countries but also from other regions of the world, is of great importance. Many understand today that with the departure of a whole number of Western companies from Russia (which have been banned from operating here), promising niches are opening up in the domestic market that could be filled by their economic operators.

We have noted a serious interest of our SCO partners in the activities of the SCO Heads of Regions Forum, established at Russia’s initiative. Its third meeting was held in Tashkent on August 3 and 4 with the participation of a representative delegation from Russian regions. We support Chelyabinsk’s initiative to hold the 4th Forum in Russia in 2023, in coordination with India as the SCO chair.

Strengthening dialogue with BRICS partners remains a priority. We attach special importance to the development of links between cities, municipalities and regions, in particular within the forums of twin cities and municipalities. We are very pleased that the latter attracts into its orbit representatives of not only the five member countries, but also of other like-minded countries. We are counting on the success of the International Municipal BRICS+ Forum to be held in St Petersburg at the end of November.

Region-to-region contacts with China are expanding progressively. Two-thirds of our country’s regions have cooperation agreements with Chinese provinces. The geography of interaction is expanding, with new participants joining from year to year, and becoming enriched with new formats.

The relevance of region-to-region cooperation with India has increased by orders of magnitude. Our partners are interested not only in increasing the supply of energy, agricultural products, fertilisers and precious metals from Russia, but also in setting up joint ventures in various fields.

Regional contacts with Turkiye have intensified significantly. The priority of cooperation with Iranian regions is the development of logistics and the financial and banking infrastructure. Cooperation in the Caspian region is growing exponentially, due to the impetus given by the 2nd Caspian Economic Forum held in Moscow in October.

A number of regions of the Russian Federation, in particular Crimea, are actively cooperating with the Syrian Arab Republic. Business contacts with the UAE are also being consistently strengthened, including investment, banking, agriculture and industry. Upward trends are observed in humanitarian ties with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman, as many Russian companies are increasing their cooperation with the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf as promising regional hubs.

We consider the development of smart cities to be a promising area of the Russia-ASEAN strategic partnership. The ten member states demonstrate a genuine interest in sharing experience with Russia in this area. Russian megacities have something to offer in the field of digital development of the urban economy and management.

Cooperation with African countries, stimulated by the first Russia-Africa Summit, has withstood the test of the pandemic and continues to grow steadily. Preparations are currently underway for the second summit, where participants plan to continue working on consolidated decisions to boost trade, economic and investment cooperation. I hope that our regions will enthusiastically join the effort.

Our Latin American colleagues are increasingly interested in interacting with Russian regions. The National Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean has been making a valuable contribution to this.

It is necessary to strengthen cross-border ties with our southern and eastern neighbours in every possible way, relying on Russia’s Cross-Border Cooperation Concept.

One of our key objectives in this area is to accelerate the modernisation of our border and transport infrastructure, primarily border checkpoints with China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, to facilitate increased cargo flows, to develop transport connectivity and open international transport and logistics corridors.

I have already mentioned the city-to-city cooperation that has been established through BRICS. We consider it important to expand it to other venues and establish stronger ties based on the twin cities format.

Attaining these objectives will require coordinated work of all state authorities in charge of Russia’s international affairs, the relevant authorities in Russian regions and the expert community. The ultimate goal of our common efforts should be to increase the practical effect of Russian regions’ international activity and foreign economic relations in the interests of promoting their socioeconomic development and improving their residents’ quality of life. The Russian Foreign Ministry, Rossotrudnichestvo, the Foreign Ministry’s representative offices in the regions, and our foreign missions will provide assistance in every way we can.