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Lavrov arrives in Mali with first working visit

Russian Foreign Minister to meet with Transitional President Assimi Goita and Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop

BAMAKO /Mali/, February 7. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Mali with the first working visit on Tuesday.

During the visit, the Foreign Minister will meet with Interim President Assimi Goita and his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop.

Earlier, Lavrov visited Baghdad, which became the starting point of his new tour.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the sides are expected to pay attention to the issue of expansion of the Russian-Malian cooperation in trade, economy an investment areas, as well as to intensification of cooperation in such promising areas as mining mineral raw materials, geological survey, energy, infrastructure, agriculture.

In particular, the sides will discuss practical aspects of shipment of Russian grain, fertilizer and oil products to Mali.

The sides are also expected to touch upon the international and African agenda, with an emphasis on the events around Ukraine, on settlement of crises and combating terrorism in the Sahara-Sahel region and West Africa. The Ministry added that the sides are expected to discuss further strengthening of military and military-technical ties, as well as humanitarian cooperation.

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