MANAGUA, April 19. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit Nicaragua on Wednesday as part of his Latin American tour.

The country’s capital Managua will be the third destination in the top Russian diplomat’s journey. Prior to that, he visited Brazil and Venezuela.

The Russia Foreign Ministry made no announcements about Lavrov’s upcoming meetings. However, he expected to meet with the country’s leadership, including President Daniel Ortega. After visiting Nicaragua, the top Russian diplomat will travel to Cuba.

During the visit, Lavrov is likely to discuss further development of bilateral relations, joint economic projects and cooperation within international organizations.

Strategic partnership

Lavrov’s visit to Managua comes shortly after a visit to Moscow by Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada Colindres. The diplomat traveled to the Russian capital in late March. The talks focused on bilateral cooperation in various spheres and the two states’ interaction on the international arena.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Managua and Moscow were engaged in a successful high-level and top-level political dialogue, enjoying close ties at the level of parliaments, municipalities, governmental agencies and economic bodies.

According to Lavrov, Moscow values cooperation with Nicaragua on the international arena. He said earlier that the two states share the same opinions on key issues. He also said back then that the two nations reject dictate policies and illegitimate sanctions of the US-led collective West. Moreover, the counties favor promoting dialogue and cooperation between Russia and leading organizations of Latin American and Caribbean nations.

Defense cooperation is also among priorities in bilateral Russian-Nicaraguan relations.

The two states have established an intergovernmental commission on trade, economic and scientific cooperation. They are engaged in a number of joint projects in healthcare and space and are boosting ties in the disaster response sector. Moscow and Managua also cooperate in the peaceful atom industry, following the signing of an intergovernmental agreement on using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes on March 29, 2023.

Besides, Nicaragua hosts a ground station of Russia’s Glonass satellite navigation system. Also, a joint biotechnology enterprise, Mechnikov, has opened on the territory of the Central American nation to provide it with medicines and vaccines.

Diplomatic relations between Nicaragua and the Soviet Union were established on December 12, 1944. In 1980, the two states opened embassies on each other’s territory.