Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a joint news conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Somalia Abshir Omar Jama following talks, Moscow, May 26, 2023

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are happy to welcome in Moscow a delegation headed by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Somalia Abshir Omar Jama.

We discussed the status and prospects for the further development of bilateral relations in all areas. We stated our reciprocal striving to expand ties in trade, economic, educational and humanitarian areas during a stage-by-stage normalisation of the situation in the Federal Republic of Somalia.

For our part, we expressed support for the Somali leaders in the development of their state, consolidation of sovereignty and unity, steps to stabilise the domestic situation and efforts to counter terrorism and extremism. Opportunities for expanding the material areas of our cooperation, primarily in the business community, will appear with progress in this direction. Russian business people are interested in the possibility of cooperating with their Somalian partners in energy and mineral extraction, as well as other promising areas.

We noted the importance of resolving humanitarian problems in Somalia, including those of refugees both inside the country and neighbouring states. Russia is rendering humanitarian aid to Somalia via the World Food Programme (WFP) and other UN structures, as well as non-governmental charity foundations operating in our country, in part, in the Chechen Republic and Bashkortostan.

Talking about military-technical cooperation, we again expressed our readiness to meet the Somali Army’s requirements in equipment for the final defeat of the remaining terrorists and extremists in that country. I am referring to groups like Al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda. We will continue helping Somalia to train personnel for its national police.

Education in civilian professions has a solid history in our relations. Thousands of Somalis have received education in our country. Over a hundred students are studying in Russia now. We increased the number of scholarships for the next academic year. Now the Russian Government will provide our Somali friends with 35 scholarships every year.

We talked about the most important items of the African and international agendas. We have a common position on the need to enhance international cooperation and international law in accordance with the UN Charter, primarily on the principle of the sovereign equality of states. In this context, we consider counterproductive the attempts to artificially impede the objective historical process of the formation of a new multipolar world arrangement. We will continue cooperating in the UN.

We appreciate the balanced position taken by our Somali friends on the issues related to the developments around Ukraine. We are sharing our assessments of the situation with them. The overwhelming majority of the developing countries understand the primary causes of this crisis. They are rooted in the striving of the US and its allies to recklessly strengthen their domination in Europe and elsewhere. They are expanding NATO in defiance of their assurances to the contrary.

We will support the Somali government’s lawful positions when these issues and the situation in that country are reviewed in the UN Security Council. We consider it important to start gradually lifting the sanctions that were imposed on Somalia at one time. These sanctions are now obstructing the Somali government’s efforts to stabilise the situation.

We paid much attention to the situation in Africa, primarily in its numerous hot spots. Our friends informed us about the developments and the efforts of African agencies (such as the African Union) to achieve settlement in the Horn of Africa – Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya and Sudan, where a serious domestic political crisis has been going on for a couple of months.

We emphasised that we have always believed that Africans must resolve their problems based on their own decisions and compromises. The time when other capitals, primarily Western, imposed their opinions on them is slipping away forever. It is necessary to take for granted the fact that Africa has a full right to resolve its problems independently and play a major role as a centre in the multipolar world arrangement.

We reaffirmed our position on the need to fully consider African interests in reforming the US Security Council. The reform must be exclusively aimed at ensuring proper representation of the developing nations in it. They are the countries of the global majority.

 We spoke about the interaction between Russia and the African Union, in part, in the context of the work that started in October 2019, when the first Russia-Africa Summit took place in Sochi. Now preparations are underway for the second Russia-Africa Summit. It will take place in St Petersburg in late July. We are grateful to our Somali friends for the decision of their President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to attend this event personally.

We discussed one more issue in connection with African problems. This is piracy. A while ago, fighting piracy off Somali coasts was one of the central areas of UN activity. Now this problem has become somewhat less urgent. All aspects of marine security remain important, including illegal trafficking in arms and other prohibited goods. We agreed to deepen our interaction on this issue as well. Mr Minister told us about interesting processes taking place in the East African Community. We are grateful to him for that. I believe we will be interested in establishing additional contacts with this structure to develop sustainable and systemic relations with it.