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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks and answers to media questions following his visit to the Republic of Burundi, Bujumbura, May 30, 2023

30 May 2023 19:28
1049-30-05-2023

Ladies and gentlemen,

We met with President of the Republic of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye and discussed the entire range of bilateral relations. We told him how we had discussed these issues with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation in the Republic of Burundi Albert Shingiro.

A number of specific proposals are taking shape. They will be submitted to a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Burundi on the sidelines of the Second Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg in July. Promising areas for cooperation include nuclear power, healthcare, infectious disease control, education, and humanitarian ties.

We are interested in more vigorous and direct contacts between Russian businesses and Burundian companies. The high-level Burundian delegation's attendance at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will create a good opportunity for this.

We appreciate Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye's principled line, which he confirmed today. This policy consists in developing the natural resources in his country primarily in the interests of the Burundian people rather than other states that prefer to continue their colonial practices under the current circumstances.

We share the views on what is happening in the international arena. Despite the West's attempts to preserve and even enhance its dominance, a multipolar arrangement is forming in the world, and Africa should take an independent position that befits it in this international order. Serving these interests is President Evariste Ndayishimiye's consistent policy to uphold his country's right to have an independent point of view and develop relations with those, who are ready to do that on a mutually beneficial basis, including, in this case, the Russian Federation.

We appreciate the efforts undertaken by Burundi and personally its President to facilitate the settlement of various persisting conflicts in Africa, including in the region of the Great Lakes, the Central African Republic, and Somalia, where numerous Burundian peacekeepers are stationed. We agreed to continue and promote coordination at the UN, where our delegations invariably support each other on all issues of principle.

We value Burundi's balanced position on the developments in Ukraine and its understanding of the root causes of this crisis.

I believe we had a useful conversation, and I would like to thank President Evariste Ndayishimiye for this. We look forward to seeing him at the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg.

Question: Burundi has chosen Russia as a partner for cooperation in nuclear power. Are there any details on the roadmap you mentioned? What does Burundi think about Russia's role in Africa's development in general?

Sergey Lavrov: Three hours have passed since I mentioned the roadmap on nuclear power. No specific details have appeared during this time. We confirmed our shared intent to draft, as soon as possible (with due account taken of this roadmap), an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy. President of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye has confirmed his interest in using Russian technology in this area for creating a relevant industry in Burundi. Signing the said agreement and completing the work on a memorandum regarding the training of Burundian nuclear power plant personnel will help reach this goal.

Question: Is there a plan to supply Russian fertilisers to this region? What is it about?

Sergey Lavrov: Other African countries badly need fertilisers. They want Russian fertiliser supplies to continue and expand. We are ready for this. As you may know, President of Russia Vladimir Putin announced in September 2022 that we were ready to donate to the African countries - gratis - 300,000 tonnes of fertilisers that had been unlawfully impounded at EU ports. The EU leaders blocked this initiative fully in accordance with their colonial practices and instincts. A long six months had to pass before it became possible to send at least the first consignment of 20,000 tonnes to Malawi. One more consignment of a comparable size was sent to Kenya the other day. A similar delivery will soon be made to Nigeria.

Let me emphasise again that this activity takes an incredible effort on the part of the World Food Programme and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who are working hard to overcome the openly Russophobic attitude of the EU members. The latter are opposing any initiative on helping the developing nations, if this assistance is rendered by Russia. In our further efforts to remove these illegal EU-created obstacles, we will consider Bujumbura's requirements as one of our priorities, as we have arranged with President of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye today.