The first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum could accelerate achieving the African Union's 2063 development goals, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos said on the sidelines of the event.
"Dr. Gedion highlighted the long-standing historical ties between Russia and Africa, emphasizing the importance of leveraging the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum as a platform to further the objectives of the African Union's Agenda 2063," the country's ministry of foreign affairs wrote on X.
The minister underscored the development of relations between Russia and Africa in such spheres as trade and investment. He also stressed the importance of cooperation in science and technology, agriculture and industry.
Timothewos noted that Ethiopia welcomes the fact that Russia is poised to contribute to reforms in the UN's Security Council, which will increase the number of countries that are represented there.
On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ethiopian counterpart discussed issues of deepening the two countries' coordination in BRICS and the UN during talks on the sidelines of the First Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum. According to the Russian foreign ministry, the expansion of trade, economic, scientific, technical and humanitarian ties were a main topic of the talks.