After Kenya, and before South Africa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergueï Lavrov arrived in Burundi this Tuesday, May 30 at the end of the morning, accompanied by a delegation of 25 people. This is the first visit of a Russian foreign minister to the country. He was greeted by his counterpart Albert Shingiro with whom he spoke, before the two men addressed the press.
” Tangible progress and challenges ahead » : this is how the Burundian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Shingiro, summed up the bilateral relationship with Russia, at the end of an interview which he described as « successful “, with his counterpart.
Two months ago, it was he who went to Sochi, on the shores of the Black Sea, to meet Sergei Lavrov. This time, the two men saw each other in Bujumbura as part of the last-minute tour organized by the head of Russian diplomacy, which comes a few days after that of the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs on the African continent.
Albert Shingiro announced “ diversification of the partnership with Moscow: cooperation agreements on education, health, energy, the civil service, justice, and even civil nuclear power should be signed during the Russia-Africa summit at the end of July in Saint Petersburg.
On the subject of the war in Ukraine, Burundi has chosen to be on the side of solutions and no problems said Alain Shingiro, “ we have adopted an abstentionist and non-alignment position to prevent this conflict from reaching Africa, this is the position of most African countries “.
We obviously talked about the conflicts that we have at the moment in the world and I told him that for Burundi, for example, with regard to the situation in Ukraine, Burundi has chosen to be on the side of the solutions and not not on the side of the problems. We have taken an abstentionist position, a position of neutrality, a position of non-alignment, to prevent this conflict from reaching other regions, in particular the African continent. We must mitigate the impact of this conflict, of this situation in Ukraine. In particular by taking a position of neutrality and this is the position of most African countries on this issue.
Minister Albert Shingiro: “We have taken an abstentionist position, a position of neutrality, a position of non-alignment”
After Burundi, Sergueï Lavrov is expected in South Africa where he is due to take part in a preparatory meeting for the BRICS summit to be held there at the end of August.