ADDIS ABABA, July 6. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived on a visit in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, which is the first stop in his African tour, a TASS correspondent reported.

On Tuesday, the minister is expected to meet with members of the country’s government, including Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos.

Lavrov’s previous visit to Ethiopia took place in July 2022. The bilateral agenda has expanded since, with Ethiopia becoming a full-fledged member of the BRICS group of nations and taking part in the organization’s summit in Kazan in this capacity. The current visit presents a good opportunity to closely examine prospects for cooperation in BRICS and exchange opinions on a broad range of foreign policy issues. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on many occasions that Russia's and Ethiopia’s approaches to the majority of international issues are either very close or coincide fully, which facilitates joint work in many multilateral formats.

The minister is expected to inform the Ethiopian side about the development of the situation in Ukraine and to discuss preparations for the third Russia-Africa summit due in Moscow in October.