Your Excellency Mr. Sergey Lavrov
Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Let me first, express our profound gratitude to Foreign Minister Lavrov and the government of the Russian Federation for affording us this opportunity to continue and deepen our brotherly and comprehensive dialogue, in this beautiful city, Sochi.
I wish to recall your recent and important visit to Eritrea, and your talks with president Isaias Afwerki, which underlined, not only, the growing ties between our two countries, but also the convergence of our views and approaches. Indeed, we stand together in a common endeavor against an aggressive, oppressive and dying uni-polar world and for a fairer and more equitable global order, which respects the sovereign equality of nations, a key pillar of the UN Charter. We stand together against in warranted economic pressures and illegal sanctions and blockades; against reckless policies of containment and hegemony that are pushing the world to the brin; against the demonization of countries and their leaders; against the discredited International Criminal Court, which is not interested in justice, but targets Africa and all countries branded as enemies by its masters. We stand together against the flagrant violation of the independence and sovereignty of nations and the wanton looting and plunder of their resources as well as the freezing and expropriation of their assets. We stand together for peace, for the right of nations to pursue independent paths of development, to protect their values, cultures and natural environment. We stand together for peaceful existence, cooperation and solidarity.
At the bilateral level, Eritrea and the Russian Federation seek to build strong bonds of cooperation in the political, diplomatic, economic, trade, investment, social, cultural and security arenas. At our talks today, we have explored concrete measures to achieve these common objectives.
Let me take this opportunity, to reaffirm Eritrea’s principled position on the Ukraine pretext, a pretext that has sadly sacrificed Ukraine and its people for the purpose of destroying the Russian Federation; just as the Taiwan issue is being foisted as a pretext to bring to a halt, China’s peaceful rise by any means necessary, including violent conflict. These irresponsible policies are endangering humanity at large; it is no wonder they are meeting stiff resistance from peoples and nations throughout the world, including the US and Europe.
In conclusion, I wish to thank His Excellency Sergey Lavrov, for his time, his friendship and his gracious hospitality.