Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a meeting of Russia-the Islamic World GSV with ambassadors from the OIC member states, Moscow, March 6, 2023

Mr Khusnullin, Mr Minnikhanov, ladies and gentlemen, Your Excellency, colleagues, friends.

I am happy to welcome you to the meeting of the leaders of the “Russia-Islamic World” Group of Strategic Vision with ambassadors from the OIC member states, officials from federal and regional authorities, and leaders of religious associations.

As Eurasia’s largest country and a state-civilisation, Russia maintains good, honest and mutually respectful relations with the countries of the Islamic world; the continuing strengthening of these relations is among the unwavering priorities of Russia’s foreign policy. We are united by a commitment to the cultural and civilisational diversity of the peoples of the world and their right to determine their own paths for political and socioeconomic development. In conjunction with our friends from the Muslim states, we stand for building a more just and democratic multipolar world order based on UN Charter principles. We reject the ultra-liberal values that are being aggressively imposed on everyone by the collective West.

This year is particularly symbolic for us as it marks the 20th anniversary of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin’s historic speech at the meeting of the heads of state and government of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Malaysia, where the Russian leader spoke in favour of developing relations between our country and the Muslim world in a qualitatively new format. Russia was granted observer status with this international association of high standing which laid the foundation for our partnership in focusing on the joint search for meaningful answers to the numerous challenges of our time.

Russia-Islamic World Group of Strategic Vision was created in 2006 and is the core mechanism underlying our dialogue and our efforts to promote promising and mutually beneficial projects. It is now led by Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. Over the past years, various useful initiatives designed to help strengthen the atmosphere of friendship, trust and mutual understanding between our countries and peoples have been launched as part of this group.

Broad-based public support, including business circles, religious associations, youth organisations, academic circles and cultural figures, helps promote this cooperation. Russia’s regions, where Muslims have been living throughout history in peace and harmony with the people of other religions, are making an important contribution to these common efforts.

Mr Khusnullin just mentioned that an international economic forum, “Russia - The Islamic World: Kazanforum” will be held in Kazan in late May. This is now an event of federal importance. It will be held concurrently with a special meeting of the Group of Strategic Vision. I hope that our esteemed colleagues – ambassadors from the OIC member states – will inform their leadership about the upcoming event and will do everything to make it a success.

We look forward to seeing you and representative delegations from your countries in the hospitable capital of Tatarstan.