ADDIS ABABA, July 27. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with his Ethiopian counterpart Demeke Mekonnnen and the African Union leadership in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

The visit to Ethiopia will be the final stop in Lavrov’s African tour, after which the Russian top diplomat will travel to the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (CSTO) in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent.

The crisis in Ukraine took the center stage during Lavrov’s previous negotiations and press conferences in African countries, and, apparently, the talks in Ethiopia will be no exception considering how the events in Ukraine affect food security of the African continent.

The sides are also expected to discuss pressing bilateral issues, including joint energy and infrastructure projects. Earlier, Russia’s state-run nuclear corporation Rosatom and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Innovation and Technology signed a roadmap on cooperation in projects to build a nuclear power plant and a nuclear research center in the republic.

Preparations for summit

Among other things, the talks are expected to focus on preparations for the second Russia-Africa Summit due in 2023. According to the Russian foreign minister, he will discuss main areas of preparatory work with the leadership of the African Union, headquartered in Ethiopia’s capital.

"I mean creating several preparatory groups on separate topics of the future summit’s agenda," Lavrov said. "It will be the issues of trade, investment, natural resources, energy and food security, as well as matters of humanitarian, cultural and educational cooperation to complement the international agenda."

Security threats

The sides are likely to discuss defense cooperation issues, including with regard to the current situation on Ethiopia’s borders with Somalia and Sudan.

Defense cooperation is among the key areas addressed by Moscow and Addis Ababa in the bilateral format. Earlier, the sides have agreed on additional documents paving the way to a more efficient dialogue in the area of defense sales and contracts.