Confirmed: Lavrov to visit Brazil, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela
Russia appreciated the decision of Latin American countries not to join the West’s sanctions, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in the article entitled “Russia and Latin America: Forward looking partnership and cooperation” posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website on Thursday.
“It is no coincidence that the efforts to abandon the US dollar in foreign trade and to create an infrastructure of transport, logistics, interbank, financial and economic ties that are not controlled by the West have stepped up significantly around the world. Naturally, about three-quarters of the countries around the globe, including our Latin American friends, chose not to join the anti-Russia sanctions. We appreciated them for that,” the article said.
According to the top diplomat, “everything that is happening in and around Ukraine is part of the unfolding fight for the future international order.”
“What’s at stake today is whether the world order will be truly fair, democratic and polycentric, as the UN Charter says, which proclaims the sovereign equality of all countries, or whether the United States and the coalition that it is leading will implement their agenda at the expense of other countries including pumping resources over to suit their needs,” Lavrov went on to say in the article.
“This is precisely the goal of the rules-based order concept. The Western capitals want to replace international law, primarily the UN Charter’s goals and principles, with these rules that were made up by no one knows who,” he stressed.
“This simple truth has been realized by many countries that are implementing nationally oriented agendas and are guided, above all, by their core interests,” the top diplomat said.
The Foreign Minister also noted that a Russian delegation will visit Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in the second half of April.
“It is in this vein, in the spirit of strategic partnership, that our relations develop with many countries of the region, including Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, which our delegation will visit in the second half of April,” the top diplomat noted.
Lavrov also pointed to the readiness of the Russian side “to build up diversified contacts at the level of heads of states and governments, parliaments, diplomatic services, other ministries and departments.” “We are open for expanding cooperation on a multilateral basis, especially within the framework of the dialogue between Russia and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States,” he added.
In addition, Lavrov drew attention to the expansion of the legal framework between Russia and Latin American countries in recent years. “This concerns, in particular, the creation of a space of mutual visa-free travel. Now it covers 27 states of Latin America and the Caribbean. All of South America and almost all of Central America have become visa-free for our citizens,” the top diplomat concluded.
Lavrov’s article was translated into Portuguese for the Brazilian daily Folha de S.Paulo and into Spanish for the Mexican Buzos magazine.
With information from TASS
