Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a joint news conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug following talks, Nouakchott, February 8, 2023

Ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of our delegation, I would like to once again express our gratitude to the leadership of Mauritania and personally to President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani and my counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Mauritanians Abroad of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, for the invitation and the timely, substantive and trust-based talks that took place last night and this morning.

This is the first ever visit by a Russian Foreign Minister to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The timing is good, because next year marks the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. The President and the Minister, as well as all our Mauritanian friends, would like to properly mark this anniversary. Therefore, today, we discussed in detail the steps that need to be taken in order to raise bilateral relations to a new level.

We put our focus on trade and economic relations. Fishery is an undisputed flagship of our economic partnership. Russian seiners fish in Mauritania’s exclusive economic zone every year. We appreciate the fact that Mauritania is creating favourable conditions for us in accordance with the current Marine Fisheries Agreement. We agreed to take additional action to make this work as efficient and convenient as possible.

Other than fishing, there is little to extol. At this point, we decided to focus our efforts on diversifying trade and economic ties and looking for additional forms of cooperation. To this end, we agreed to revitalise the activities of the working group on improving trade and economic cooperation that was created by the Russian-Arab Business Council and the Mauritanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Each participant in the working group will come up with specific proposals in various sectors like infrastructure, production of manufactured goods in Mauritania, mining and much more. They will be submitted for consideration and approval by our respective presidents, including in the context of preparations for the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit to be held in St Petersburg in late July.

Our friends are interested in importing Russian hydrocarbon fuel, foods and fertilisers. We covered this in detail today. We stand ready to meet the demand for these goods in Mauritania and other African countries. To this end, we will continue to encourage the UN Secretary-General to push, as part of his package initiative, for removing the artificial and illegitimate barriers that the United States and its allies have set up in the way of the logistical and financial chains to ship Russian-made fertilisers and food to world markets.

Food and energy are important for all African countries. Upon agreement with our African friends, we prioritised energy and food security, as well as technology transfer which is a critically important prerequisite for the speedy development and industrialisation of Africa, and healthcare as the main discussion items for the Russia-Africa Summit.

Education, including medical training, is another hallmark of cooperation with our Mauritanian friends. This academic year, we will increase the number of scholarships from 10 to 50, primarily in medical specialties. We appreciate our Mauritanian partners’ interest in the achievements of Russian doctors and healthcare workers. They remain interested in sharing their experience. Next week, a team of doctors from Dagestan will come here on a friendly mission and will hold free consultations and conduct surgical operations.

We look forward to developing additional humanitarian ties. A document on cooperation in culture is being drafted. Without a doubt, it will be received well by the peoples of our countries who have long had mutual affinity for each other.

We covered the situation in the international arena, including global and regional issues, the geopolitical crisis that is being fomented by the United States and its allies who use the Ukrainian regime as a tool to clear obstacles to their dominance in the international arena. You are well aware of the Biden administration and the leaders of the NATO countries’ goal. It is to make sure that no one, be it Russia or China, even questions the collective West’s right to impose on everyone their will exclusively in their self-serving interests and in total disregard for international law.

I do not think the West has a significant number of allies in this regard. On the contrary, everyone with whom we have been negotiating in recent years stands unequivocally and firmly for respect for international law in its universal dimension and the principles in the UN Charter starting with the fundamental principle of the sovereign equality of states. The West prefers to remain silent about this. Our Western colleagues will benefit from frequent reminders about the importance of equality and mutual respect between participants in international dialogue and the quest for fair agreements that rely on a balance of interests on a universal scale. These issues will be discussed at the second Russia-Africa Summit as well, and the President of Mauritania confirmed today that he will be in attendance.

We expressed our respect for the position of neutrality that Mauritania adheres to in all areas. We received assurances that this policy would continue into the future. We respect this choice of the Mauritanian leadership, especially since neutrality does not prevent Mauritania from playing a strong role in addressing Africa’s problems which affect that country’s interests, namely, the terrorist threat in the Sahel region and the breaking of the deadlock in the Western Sahara settlement process. We will do our best to help our African friends as we operate on the premise that they are interested in our assistance.

I invited my colleague, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, to visit Russia in order to continue the dialogue and productive work in all areas that we agreed on today.