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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the 40th meeting of the Council of the Heads of Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moscow, May 16, 2023

16 May 2023 12:25
930-16-05-2023

Colleagues,

I am glad to welcome the participants in our 40th anniversary meeting of the Council of the Heads of Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Council has functioned for almost 20 years, asserting itself - as we believe - as a relevant mechanism that contributes to greater efficiency of the Russian regions' foreign ties. And this was the main goal behind its creation.

At our last meeting, we discussed how to upgrade the regions' international and foreign economic ties with account taken of the new geopolitical realities. We have defined the priorities and outlined practical steps designed primarily to impart additional dynamism to cooperation with states in the Asia Pacific Region, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. We really do have many friends there.

I note with satisfaction that our colleagues in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have heeded our recommendations and launched system-wide efforts to promote relations with our relevant partners. Let me stress that the recommendations on the new areas for developing inter-regional cooperation are of a long-term and truly strategic nature.

Let me emphasise that the level of collaboration with the CIS states, China, India, Iran, Türkiye, and Arab countries has risen significantly in the past period. I would also like to note that the ties between municipalities have intensified considerably as well.

The Russian Embassy in Minsk actively supports the work to develop programmes of region-to-region cross-border cooperation with Belarus, started at the initiative of the Kaliningrad and Pskov regions. It is designed to provide joint funding for this project. Foreign Minister of the Republic of Belarus Sergey Aleinik will arrive in Moscow today. We will discuss this subject with him as well.

Together with the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia, we have considered the initiative on federal level support for the regions' foreign economic activities, an initiative proposed by the Governor of the Lipetsk Region. This kind of support is being provided. But the Governor's initiative formulated certain assessments and prompts on how to make this process more effective. I would like to call on all our colleagues at the Council of the Heads of Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation to submit their observations and proposals to us on what else the federal centre can do to facilitate your foreign ties.

Today's meeting is dedicated to interaction with the Central Asian states. Our relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are those of alliance and strategic partnership and are based on equality, mutual respect, friendship, and neighbourliness. They are characterised by an intense political dialogue. Quite recently, the heads of the Central Asian states were in Moscow for the Victory Parade and had meetings with President Vladimir Putin. The political dialogue helps to promote active investment cooperation and address issues ensuring a stable growth of trade.

Scientific, educational and humanitarian ties are making good headway. The region has 25 operating branches of leading Russian universities and two joint Slavic universities (Kyrgyz-Russian and Tаjik-Russian). About 160,000 citizens of Central Asian states are enrolled in Russian universities each year, with 60,000 of them benefiting from scholarships from the federal budget.

Along with bilateral cooperation, there is an increasingly active six-sided cooperation (CA5+Russia) with each of the Central Asian countries. On October 14, 2022, Astana hosted the first summit in this format. In April of this year, Samarkand hosted the sixth CA5+Russia meeting at the foreign ministers' level.

Today, I hope to exchange views on what additional practical steps could be undertaken in the context of our cooperation with the regions of the Russian Federation. Our speakers have well-established ties with their Central Asian neighbours. I am confident that our discussion will be of much use.