Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Desk Editor
ZIMBABWE’s reaffirmation strategy within its foreign policy continues to bear fruit with the country set to take part at the Russia-Africa Ministerial Conference to cement agreements made during the Second Russia- Africa Summit held in St Petersburg last year.
Russian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, His Excellency Nikolai Krasilnikov, paid a courtesy call on Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Ambassador Frederick Shava in Harare this Monday where he extended an invitation by Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov for Zimbabwe to attend this year’s conference on Russia-Africa ties.
“Today I have the privilege to discuss with Honourable Minister Shava several issues which are high on the agenda for bilateral relations, and we had an excellent exchange of views and opinions on how to move forward in terms of enhancing partnership and cooperation in various spheres for the mutual benefit of our nations. The Honourable Minister has accepted the message of invitation by Honourable Minister Lavrov to attend a ministerial conference in a follow-up to the Second Russia-Africa Summit.
“So the first ministerial conference in the format of Russia-Africa cooperation will be held this year, this November, in the city of Sochi in Russia. We look forward to receiving this important delegation to participate in this important event, and I confirmed the eagerness of my government to proceed with exploring new ways and new opportunities for our interaction and collaboration in various spheres, and dimensions.
“The purpose of this ministerial conference is to analyse what has been done and what we have to achieve in terms of implementation of the decisions of the Second Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg where several declarations have been adopted,” said His Excellency Nikolai Krasilnikov
The Russian Ambassador also took the opportunity to announce his country’s collaboration with the University of Zimbabwe for Russian language courses on a permanent basis.
“I am also engaging with the University of Zimbabwe on opening the Russian language courses permanently. We are very grateful to the university for providing us with the opportunity to start this Russian language centre in Harare.”
Harare and Moscow share deep cordial relations with successful cooperation in the fields of mining, education and agriculture.
