MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Russia views Nigeria as a priority partner in Africa, and the countries have strong prospects for building bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his opening remarks at negotiations with Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar.

"We are happy that you come to visit Russia on a regular basis. It has become a tradition. Last July, you came to St. Petersburg within the Nigerian delegation to participate in the second Russia-Africa summit, and today you are here as the Nigerian foreign minister," Lavrov told Tuggar. "This reflects the great tradition of friendship between our peoples, and is, of course, very conducive to the development of our relations at the current stage," the minister added.

"We view Nigeria as a priority partner on the African continent," Lavrov emphasized.

According to him, the countries of the Global South and East "are starting to defend their interests on the international scene." "We have even more in common, [and are taking] ever more common approaches to eradicating injustice from international relations and establishing an equal balance of interests in accordance with the principles enshrined in the UN Charter," the top Russian diplomat added.

"Of course, the assertion by the countries of the African continent of their interests on the agenda of international contacts makes our joint work to promote bilateral trade, economic, investment, humanitarian cooperation and interaction in all other areas that much more effective," the Russian foreign minister concluded.