Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at Russia-AES ministerial meeting

Photo:MFA

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at Russia-AES ministerial meeting.

Niamey, July 8, 2026

Colleagues, friends,

On behalf of our delegation and on my own behalf, I would like to express deep gratitude for the warm welcome on Sahelian soil to the host of today’s meeting President of the Republic of Niger General Abdourahamane Tchiani and to Niger’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yaou Sangaré Bakary.

This is my first time in Niamey. I am particularly pleased to have had the opportunity to visit all three capitals of the Sahel states most recently. Now that the Russian Embassy in Niger is operational, Russia is represented in all member states of the Alliance. I would also like to thank our friend, Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister and Chair of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré, for coordination and significant contribution to making today’s meeting possible.

We have maintained an active and productive dialogue, which our counterparts from Niger and Mali have just mentioned. Significant progress has been made in advancing integration and building new regional security architecture under the auspices of the Alliance. The voice of the AES is being heard with increasing clarity and confidence.

Today’s second ministerial consultations in the Russia-AES format will help us identify additional ways for our country to support the integration efforts you are undertaking, as well as cooperation in the field of security. We are united by a shared understanding of the need to build a just multipolar world order and by joint efforts to counter neo-colonial practices, which remain deeply entrenched among our Western colleagues. We look forward to Russia-AES cooperation providing an extra boost to strengthening our countries’ sovereignty and expanding bilateral and multilateral ties within the format in which we are holding this meeting.

The third Russia-Africa Summit will take place in Moscow in October. President Vladimir Putin wished our meeting every success and asked me to convey to your leaders that he would be genuinely pleased to welcome presidents of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to the summit. The agenda will focus on the economy, trade, and investment. We hope that your delegations will include heads of sector-specific ministries and business leaders. We will likewise be pleased to welcome them to the Economic and Humanitarian Forum, which will be held on the sidelines of the summit.

It goes without saying that we also look forward to welcoming all of my counterparts and friends present here to this important event.

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