On September 16, 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov received the Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Workneh Gebeyehu, who was on a working visit to Moscow.

During the conversation, the progress in implementing the decisions of the first Russia-Africa Summit (Sochi, October 23-24, 2019) was discussed with an emphasis on the tasks of expanding cooperation with African integration associations. Particular attention was paid to the development of cooperation between Russia and IGAD in the humanitarian and educational sphere, assistance to African countries in the fight against the pandemic of COVID-19, and overcoming the consequences of the locust outbreak in East Africa.

An engaged exchange of views on topical issues of the international and regional agenda was focused on the problems of resolving conflicts in the Horn of Africa. Russia and IGAD reaffirmed their readiness to consolidate the coordinated efforts in the interests of establishing a lasting peace in South Sudan, stabilisation in Somalia, and the search for mutually acceptable solutions to other acute problems in the region.

The photo was taken from Workneh Gebeyehu’s account in Twitter (https://twitter.com/drworkneh)