MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. Russia is always ready to respect Ethiopia’s interests in the area of military-technical cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his Ethiopian counterpart, Gedion Timotheos.

"We spoke about the successful work of the intergovernmental working group on military-technical cooperation. It met in May. We have very good traditions in this sphere too and we are always ready to take into account our Ethiopian friends’ interests in the area of ensuring their defense capacities," he said.

The top Russian diplomat recalled that the latest talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that took place on September 25 had yielded a range of important documents, including in the area of nuclear energy. "We agreed that our foreign ministries will help develop and boost trade and economic ties, promote mutually beneficial energy projects, including in the nuclear energy sector. This is a new area of our cooperation," he said.

According to Lavrov, Russia and Ethiopia have good prospects and traditions of cooperation in such areas as public health, culture, and education. The minister also stressed that the sides have agreed to encourage cooperation in the financial sphere to secure trade and investment cooperation against illegal unilateral sanctions "our Western colleagues are indulging in."

"We decided to more efficiently use the potential of the intergovernmental commission for trade-and-economic and scientific-and-technical cooperation. <…> We plan to organize its meeting in the near future," he added.