Ladies and gentlemen,
Today we had good talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, S. Sos Lunda. We met Ms. Minister personally not so long ago: in February this year we participated in events within the framework of the G20 Council of Ministers in Rio de Janeiro. Even then, we confirmed the common line on strengthening comprehensive cooperation, coordinating our steps in the international arena, as well as promoting the development of bilateral cooperation.
Bolivia is one of Russia’s priority and promising partners in the Latin America and Caribbean region. It was noted that bilateral relations have recently become noticeably more active in almost all areas and are steadily developing.
We conducted an inventory of bilateral cooperation and outlined further steps. They noted the positive dynamics in various areas, highlighting issues that require additional attention.
We have intensive contacts at the highest and highest levels. We have intensified inter-parliamentary relations between various ministries and departments. We are interested in strengthening our partnership and taking it to a qualitatively new level. We agreed to accelerate the preparation of a number of intergovernmental documents in various fields.
There is a mutual interest in increasing and diversifying bilateral trade and implementing promising investment projects. We decided to make more active use of the potential of the intergovernmental Russian-Bolivian commission on trade and economic cooperation.
In the field of energy, there are significant opportunities for expanding joint activities. Gazprom PJSC carries out joint development of fields on the Ipati and Akio blocks with the Bolivian state oil and gas company YAPFB. Rosatom State Corporation is successfully implementing a flagship project to build a unique Center for Nuclear Research and Technology in El Alto in Bolivia. We consider the development and industrial development of Bolivian lithium deposits as an undoubtedly promising area of bilateral cooperation.
Today, we talked a lot about what additional steps need to be taken to find a solution that meets the interests of our countries, reflecting the balance of these interests, including taking into account the initiatives put forward by the Bolivian side in the fields of energy and agricultural supplies.
They noted a good pace in the expansion of educational exchanges. We are increasing the number of scholarships provided annually to Bolivia for its citizens to receive education at Russian universities. We talked about building up humanitarian and sports ties. We agreed to facilitate the establishment of direct contacts between business circles.
Bolivia participated in the “Games of the Future” in Kazan in February-March this year, and plans to send its athletes to the “BRICS Games” to be held in Kazan in July. We will be waiting for the Bolivian athletes at the “World Friendship Games” scheduled for autumn in Moscow and Yekaterinburg. Our Bolivian friends are also invited to the upcoming international competition “Intervision” in Russia.
I would like to note that this year at the Venice Biennale, the Russian pavilion was provided to our Latin American friends with the coordinating role of Bolivia. As we can see from the reports in Venice, this exhibition is a great success, attracting many viewers.
We discussed topical issues on the regional and global agenda. Russia and Bolivia are consistent like–minded people in the genuine democratization of international relations with the central and coordinating role of the United Nations, provided that we all firmly and religiously follow all the principles The Charter Organizations, in their entirety and interconnectedness. We are united in the need to find ways of political and diplomatic settlement of international crises and conflicts on this basis. We cooperate and coordinate our actions in world affairs, including through Groups of friends in defense of the UN Charter.
We have a common opinion that our countries, as multinational States with a rich diversity of cultures and traditions, can do a lot to strengthen peace and stability on the planet, inter-civilizational dialogue and harmony.
We support the active role of Bolivia in the processes developing in Latin America and the Caribbean. We advocate the consolidation of regional integration processes, including on the basis of such an authoritative platform as the Community of Latin American States and the Caribbean. Recently, this structure has intensified its work. We welcome this. We hope that in the near future we will resume regular ministerial meetings between Russia and the CELAC Quartet, as well as other regional multilateral structures.
We stand for an early solution to the problems of the region. Including such an old one as the need for an immediate end to the illegal trade, economic and financial blockade of Cuba. Together with Bolivia, we oppose attempts by some external forces to interfere in the internal affairs of Latin American countries, in particular Venezuela and Nicaragua.
We talked about the cooperation of our countries within the framework of the United Nations. We are grateful to Bolivia for its consistent support of our initiatives, co-authorship of most of the draft resolutions that Russia is submitting, as well as for a balanced, principled, balanced position regarding the causes of the situation around Ukraine and the actions that the Russian Federation is taking in this regard, seeking justice in terms of the interests of security and the rights of people living in our territory. a common space.
The negotiations were useful. Comrade Minister will also meet with representatives of our other departments, including Rosatom and Ministry of Economic Development.
We are confident that as a result of this visit, our bilateral agenda will actively move forward. And we will have every reason to report this to our presidents.
Question (translated from Spanish): Bolivia is interested in becoming a BRICS member. Russia is the chairman of the association in 2024. What steps have been taken to make Bolivia a full participant?
Sergey V. Lavrov: We discussed this topic. Comrade Minister confirmed the country’s sincere interest in joining the BRICS group. She stressed the rapidly growing authority and attractiveness of this association among the countries of the World majority. These states see it as a democratic, fair alternative to the order that the world’s economies, the United States and its allies are trying to maintain. Such arrangements reflect the desire of the “collective West” to continue doing business, trying to use colonial and neocolonial practices.
Russia supports Bolivia’s aspirations. Moscow, as chairman of the BRICS in 2024, is interested in ensuring that the maximum possible number of countries wishing to get closer to the association, become members or establish stable, permanent partnerships receive a concrete positive response.
BRICS works on the basis of consensus. Regular meetings between Sherpas and sous-sherpas have recently been completed. A meeting of foreign ministers will be held in Nizhny Novgorod in early June. One of the key issues will be the smoothest possible, natural integration into the association of new members who have already joined, as well as defining our common line regarding further expansion of the structure.
The question (addressed to S.Sose Lunde): The issue concerns bilateral cooperation. At the end of March this year, Rosatom State Corporation stated that it does not exclude the possibility of building a plant for the manufacture of lithium energy storage devices in Bolivia. Have any agreements already been reached with Rosatom on this issue? What new possible projects do you see as interesting for Bolivia together with Russia? What areas of bilateral cooperation do you consider potential for development?
The issue concerns security. How do you assess the increased concentration of Argentine troops on the border with Bolivia, as well as the statement of the President of Argentina X.Thinking about Argentina’s desire to become a global partner of NATO? How can this affect the situation in the region and, in particular, Bolivia?
Sergey Lavrov (adds after S.Lundy’s nipples): We perfectly understand this attitude of our Bolivian friends, as well as the vast majority of other countries of the Global South and East, towards the North Atlantic Alliance. We know directly from our own experience what this aggressive block is, as they used to say, (I will not find any other more precise definitions today).
After universal prosperity came, as it seemed to everyone, when insurmountable ideological contradictions disappeared, and everyone began to proclaim universal human values, common economic and security spaces, was created The Russia-NATO Council. Our partners “beat their chests”, promising that the alliance would not expand at first, then when they began to expand, that there would be no combat forces and armed units on a permanent basis in the new territories. Numerous promises turned out to be lies. The fact that NATO is actually trying to be a non-defensive alliance, as they convince everyone that it is an alliance solely for the defense of the territory of the member countries is also a lie.
At the same time, the same NATO Secretary General J.Stoltenberg declares that they are faithful to the treaty, which obliged them to defend their common space, but they cannot do this now until they “penetrate” the Indo-Pacific region. Block structures are already being created there that reproduce NATO psychology and mentality. There is talk of the block’s infrastructure penetrating there. An agreement between NATO and Japan has been announced.
Now the Asia-Pacific region is “not enough” – we need to go to Latin America. It seems to me that the vast majority of countries in the regions of the World Majority, the Global South, understand the dangers that this entails and realize that funds will be pumped out of them in the interests of NATO members, they will be used. Probably, those who, instead of playing this geopolitical game (which the alliance views as a zero-sum game), prefer to do household chores and provide normal education, including for their citizens, are right.
Question: Is there a plan to intensify cooperation between Russia and the countries of the ALBA group (which includes Bolivia), created in opposition to the US Pan-American project? Which areas would be the most promising?
Sergey Lavrov: We have stable relations and a number of areas of cooperation with the ALBA group, which was created at the time on the initiative of Venezuela. First of all, the political dialogue. ALBA really opposes attempts to reproduce neocolonial schemes in the region and advocates that these countries decide their own fate. In this sense, ALBA plays a positive role in supporting regional cooperation within the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
In its subregion, ALBA promotes the principles and values underlying CELAC, which we support. Among the practical directions, I would like to note an intensive and useful political dialogue. Together with ALBA, we are among those who advocate the reform of the United Nations, including its Security Council, so that the structures of the United Nations more objectively reflect the weight and legitimate interests of the countries of the World majority, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
There is close coordination between our states within the framework of the United Nations, as well as strong contacts in the areas of cultural and educational exchanges. The humanitarian component occupies an important place in our interaction.
A number of ALBA countries, including Bolivia and Venezuela, are members of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. This creates additional opportunities to take this aspect into account when building possible promising economic projects between us and this important regional association.
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