Sergey Lavrov, foreign affairs minister of the Russian Federation. Photo: Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry Press.
A Russian delegation will visit Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela during the latter half of April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced.
Russian authorities have consistently advocated “strengthening Russian-Latin American cooperation on the basis of mutual support, solidarity, and consideration for reciprocal interests,” Lavrov said.
“In this way, in the spirit of strategic partnership, our relations are developing with numerous countries of the region, including Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, countries which our delegation will visit in the second half of April,” Lavrov wrote in an article for the Brazilian daily Folha de SĂŁo Paulo and the Mexican magazine Buzos.
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The Russian diplomat stressed that Moscow is open to strengthening communication between the heads of state and the respective countries’ governments, parliaments, diplomatic services, and other bodies.
“We are also open to expanding cooperation on a multilateral basis, especially within the framework of Russia’s dialogue with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States,” the minister added.
He emphasized that the Latin American and Caribbean region is a self-sufficient foreign policy area for Moscow.
“We do not want your region to become a stage for confrontation between powers,” Lavrov stated. “Our cooperation with Latin America is based on non-dogmatic and practical approaches; it is not directed against anyone.”
Lavrov also commented on Russian wheat exports to Latin America and the Caribbean. “In 2022, Russia increased its wheat exports to Latin America and the Caribbean by 48.8%, or almost one and a half times,” he stated.
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He added that despite sanctions and political pressure from the United States and the European Union, overall Russian exports to the region grew by 3.8%.
Lavrov also highlighted the increase in Russian trade of fertilizers and petroleum derivatives in the international market. “I would like to note that we supplied 23 million tons of grain and 20 million tons of fertilizers to the world markets without any help from the United Nations,” Lavrov announced. “This does not include the tens of thousands of tons of fertilizers that the West has kept blocked in its ports.”
He stressed that both Russia and Latin America “count on their competitive advantages in the context of the objective processes for the formation of a multipolar world order.”
“It is important to take full advantage of the complementary nature of our economies to build a complete project of production and technological alliances, and accelerate the transition to payments in national currencies and alternatives to the dollar and the euro,” Minister Lavrov noted.
(Sputnik)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/KZ
