MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. Russia hopes to continue dialogue with Zambia on strengthening economic and humanitarian cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday at a meeting with his Zambian counterpart Harry Kalaba.

Lavrov noted that this was the first visit of the Zambian foreign minister to Russia. "We hope to continue dialogue on bilateral issues, on strengthening trade and economic and humanitarian cooperation and on regional issues," Lavrov said.

"We value dialogue with African colleagues. I would like to note Zambia’s role in promoting integration and peacekeeping on your continent," he added.

Kalaba thanked the Russian side for "support provided at hard times when we lost our president [Michael Sata died in 2014] and held elections." "We hope to strengthen our bilateral ties, to increase bilateral trade. We hope for deeper cooperation between our entrepreneurs," he added.

Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service and Zambia’s Commission on Fighting Illegal Drug Trafficking will sign a memorandum on mutual understanding at the Moscow anti-drug conference on April 23. "We consider it very important to cooperate with Zambia in the sphere of fighting drug trafficking," Lavrov said.