Dear ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to sincerely thank my Chadian friends for their warm welcome. I thank the President of the Republic of Chad, I. Déby Itno, as well as my colleague A. Koulamalla, Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chadians Abroad, for the useful, informative and rich talks. This is my first visit to Chad. I would like to take this opportunity to once again congratulate my colleague on his appointment to this high post.
It is symbolic that this is the first visit by a Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Chad. It is taking place in the year of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. Today we remembered the USSR’s contribution to the decolonisation process, including its assistance to Chad in gaining independence. These traditions, as Mr Minister stressed, we must preserve so that younger generations will remember our shared history.
The development of our relations has been very positive. Regular political dialogue is maintained. In January 2024, while still in his capacity as President of the Transitional Period of Chad, Mr I. Déby Itno paid an official visit to Moscow, where he had substantive talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. I was in regular contact with the previous Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chad, including during the second Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg in July 2023. Today we agreed to intensify work on all fronts to bring relations to a qualitatively new level.
We congratulate our Chadian colleagues on the successful presidential elections, which marked the end of the transition period and the country’s return to a civilian form of government. We actively support the course of the President of Chad towards stabilisation of all spheres of life.
We have confirmed our mutual interest in expanding Russian-Chadian trade, economic and investment co-operation. There are many initiatives that require substantive attention on both sides, first and foremost from economic and financial agencies and the business community. We have talked about this in detail today. We are pleased that the Chadian delegation is participating in SPIEF-2024. This is a good opportunity to establish contacts with potential business partners.
We are interested in developing such areas as the development of mineral resources, geological exploration, energy, the construction of infrastructure facilities, agriculture, health care and education. At a meeting with us today, the President of the Republic of Chad, I. Déby Itno, said that he would personally direct the activities of his country’s ministries and departments, which will be able to implement mutually beneficial projects here together with Russian partners in the above-mentioned and other areas.
We value bilateral humanitarian co-operation, including the training of Chadian personnel on the basis of Russian universities. We have agreed to use the educational area to establish direct contacts between the higher educational institutions of our countries. We have such experience with many African countries. I am sure that it will take root in Russian-Chadian relations as well.
We have long been successfully developing traditional military and military-technical co-operation. Today we have confirmed our interest in meeting the needs of the Chadian armed forces with Russian equipment, especially in a situation where it is necessary to strengthen defence capabilities in the face of continuing terrorist threats. They come, first of all, from the territory of Libya after NATO forces destroyed that country in 2011, destroying its statehood.
We have close and in many cases overlapping positions on key regional and global issues. Like our Chadian friends, we believe that democratisation of international life, the need to ensure the sovereign equality of all states – large and small – as required by the UN Charter, and the need to implement the principles of the Charter not selectively (from case to case), but in their entirety and interrelation, are in demand.
We are interested in ensuring that, within the framework of the ongoing work on the reform of the UN Security Council, African countries take their rightful place in this main structure of international interaction in the field of peace and security. African countries have a common position. We treat it with respect and will endeavour to ensure that in any reform options the interests of Africa, along with those of Latin America and Asia, are fully taken into account.
We are grateful to our partners for supporting many Russian initiatives put forward at the United Nations. We will also support coordination in other multilateral forums.
We paid particular attention to the Libyan crisis and the situation in the Sahara-Sahel zone and West Africa. We have a common position on Libya, which is the need for all external players to respect the fundamental and long-term interests of the Libyan people and to facilitate the launch of a nationwide, inclusive political process involving all political forces in the country without exception.
Respect the fundamental and long-term interests of the Libyan people and promote the launching of a nationwide, inclusive political process involving all political forces in the country without exception.
In the Sahara-Sahel zone, we see persistent and worsening problems. We are convinced, like our Chadian friends, that the settlement of that part of Africa, as well as other crises on the continent, should be based on the principle of ‘African problems – African solutions’. The international community should support the solutions that Africans will develop and help to implement them.
I have assured our Chadian friends that Russia is ready to continue to make a constructive contribution to efforts to stabilise the situation in the Sahara-Sahel and to assist the countries of the region, including Chad, in improving the combat effectiveness of their national armed forces and the training of military and law enforcement personnel.
We are grateful to our Chadian colleagues for their understanding of what is happening in Ukraine, the root causes of this crisis, the actions we have had to take to prevent the creation of direct military threats to Russia’s security right on our borders, and the discrimination against the Russian population that has lived for centuries in the territories where, ten years ago, they refused to accept the results of the Western-backed anti-corruption coup d’état.
We are interested in developing our dialogue in all areas. President of the Republic of Chad I. Déby Itno today expressed deep thoughts about the trends we are observing in the world today and how important it is to strengthen the processes leading to real multipolarity, equality, and mutually friendly dialogue between all countries without exception in order to develop a balance of interests in each specific case.
We discussed co-operation between Russia and the African Union. Two Russia-Africa summits have already taken place. The second one was held in July 2023 in St Petersburg. Following the decision of this summit, a Russia-Africa Partnership Forum was established at the level of foreign ministers. The first session of this forum is scheduled for November this year in Sochi. I invited my colleague to participate in this event. It will be important for the implementation of the agreements reached by the Heads of State.
