FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Lavrov’s African Tour Takes Him to Zimbabwe and Mozambique
March 8, 2018 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov is continuing his trip in Africa. On March 5, he was in Namibia, and in Angola; on March 7, he was in Mozambique. And today he is in Zimbabwe, where he met with President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, as well as several Cabinet ministers and members of the Russian delegation.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has praised President Mnangagwa for bringing political stability to the country and steering Zimbabwe towards economic growth.
During his meeting with President Mnangagwa, Lavrov presented him with a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As for the messages we conveyed from President Putin to the President of Zimbabwe, these messages are in support to the efforts of the President of Zimbabwe in stabilizing the political situation in the country and consolidating society and developing comprehensive and multi-faceted cooperation with countries that are willing to help Zimbabwe in addressing its economy,”
Lavrov said.
“Today, several memorandums have been signed between the relevant ministries dealing with the issues of industry and trade,” Lavrov said.
“One of them is a memorandum on creating a special economic zone in Zimbabwe. This project will be finalized by specialists and the results of this work will be reported to the leadership of both countries.”
Among projects discussed was the implementation of the joint project for exploring the Darwendale platinum deposits, which are among the largest of their kind in the world, and are a Zimbabwean-Russian joint venture. There was also discussion of cooperation in the diamond industry. Lavrov also said that he and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would be in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the same time, but that no meeting had been agreed.
In Maputo, Lavrov met with Mozambique Foreign Minister José Pacheco, in which discussions focussed on military cooperation and developing bilateral economic relations, reported TASS.
“Considering the experience of our interaction—which is long, very successful and is positively regarded by both sides—in the sphere of military-technical cooperation, we stated that the decision to establish a working group on military-technical cooperation that first convened last year, would also foster development of cooperation in this important area,”
he said.
On bilateral economic relations, Lavrov said:
“We’ve got first results here already: An agreement to set up an intergovernmental commission on trade-economic cooperation has been reached, and the first meeting will be held the next month in Maputo.
“We value our friendly relations that have stood the test of time and share the task of taking them to the strategic partnership level,”
Lavrov said.
Pacheco confirmed his country’s interest in establishing strategic partnership with Russia, saying: “We have seen proof of Russia’s technological successes during President Vladimir Putin’s address to the Federal Assembly on March 1.”
