#Announcement

⚡️On November 22, Vladimir Putin will take part in the extraordinary G20 summit, to be held via videoconference.

The summit participants will review India’s presidency in 2023 and discuss the situation in the global economy and finance, the climate agenda, digitalisation and other topics.

#G20

⚡️ Main foreign policy results in 2023

Per tradition, at the end of each year we summarize the outcomes of the Russia's foreign policy, implemented by the MFA and determined by President Vladimir Putin.

👉 Points 1-7

8️⃣ Russia maintained an intensive political dialogue with India, including in the context of the country's chairmanship of the #SCO and the #G20, reinforcing the Russian-Indian special and privileged strategic partnership.

9️⃣ President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Chairman of State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Kim Jong-un at the Vostochny Cosmodrome brought Russian-North Korean relations to a new level.

1️⃣0️⃣ Important joint steps were taken to expand Russian-Iranian relations. In particular, the parties signed an agreement on the construction of the Rasht-Astara railway, and the foreign ministers signed a Declaration on the Ways and Means to Counter, Mitigate and Redress the Adverse Impacts of Unilateral Coercive Measures.

1️⃣1️⃣ The launch of the mechanism of regular dialogue at the level of foreign ministers accelerated cooperation between the Caspian states.

1️⃣2️⃣ Relations with Türkiye reached a strategic level in the field of peaceful nuclear energy: in particular, Russia began supplying nuclear fuel to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant.

1️⃣3️⃣ Russia gained a stronger foothold in the Middle East. Relations with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, primarily the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. There was progress in relations with the League of Arab States.

1️⃣4️⃣ The second Russia-Africa Summit held in St Petersburg in July marked the culmination of collaborative efforts to significantly enhance ties in this promising area of Russia's foreign policy.

1️⃣5️⃣ The expansion of traditional partnerships with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean was central to the agenda of the successful political dialogue with regional states at the highest and high levels.

👉 Learn more about other foreign policy results

🎙 FM Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to questions following the G20 Ministerial Meeting

📍 Rio de Janeiro, February 22, 2024

• Some of our Western colleagues’ attempts during the #G20 Ministerial Meetings to divert the discussion from this key issue to the topic of supporting the Kiev regime, focusing on groundless accusations against Russia and Ukrainising the agenda are not supported by developing countries and most of the Global South countries.

🌐 Our remarks also focused on the fact that, apart from the Bretton Woods institutions, the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO, there are also new centres and unions of the Global Majority developing in different regions of the world. In the Eurasian space, these are the #SCO, #ASEAN, and #EAEU.

🇺🇳 Today, six members of the UNSC out of 15 are allies of the US, with nearly all of them doing Washington’s bidding. When we address the problem of expanding the UNSC in practical terms, we will support solely representatives of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they should not by any means divide the world into isolated blocs which seems like a sound idea, but immediately, without missing a beat, he went on to say that they will, of course, cooperate primarily with democracies. To use his words, there are different “blocs.” The best part, though, is him saying that all countries have a choice, “If you are not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu.” That’s the kind of approach the top US diplomat has towards those who disagree with them.

• Many of our colleagues from the Global Majority share with us in confidence how the Americans demand that they join their sanctions against Russia and what threats they use. That prompts an interesting conclusion about US diplomacy and what it now amounts to.

🌎 Latin America is one of our major partners. Our trade is growing substantially and investment activities are also gaining momentum.

Read in full

🎙 Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov answers questions during a plenary session of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation (Moscow, May 14, 2024)

Key talking points:

• Western efforts to preserve its hegemony have entered a critical phase. <...> China has emerged as a leader of global growth. This fact does not sit well with the US, which, along with its satellites, having brought the rest of the West to its heel, made a doctrinal statement that they cannot allow anyone to become stronger or more influential than Washington. So, objectively, alongside our Chinese colleagues we are interested in continuing to lead the efforts to establish a fairer and more democratic world order.

🤝 The duo of Moscow and Beijing is playing a crucial balancing role in international affairs. I am confident that the upcoming visit of President Vladimir Putin to China will further strengthen our joint efforts.

• Following the expansion of #BRICS, our representation in the #G20 has increased. Half of the G20 members are either BRICS members or share similar perspectives with us. Therefore, the G20 will undergo positive transformations emphasising the inclusion of the interests of other regions of the world and groups of countries rather than representing the interests of the "collective West".

• We have numerous allies, and I have no doubt that we will have more of them which will contribute to democratising international relations, where every nation will have a rightful place of its own in global affairs based on its fair and actual contribution to the global economy, politics, and security system, as opposed to blackmail, threats, and ultimatums used by the West.

🌍 During the second Russia-Africa Summit, there were numerous plenary sessions and bilateral contacts with individual sub-regional African associations. <...> This is one of the main items on the agenda, including the implementation of the Declaration and Action Plan adopted at the second Summit.

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🎙 Statement of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Pankin at the G20 Development Ministerial Meeting on «Ensuring Access to Water and Sanitation» (Rio de Janeiro, July 22, 2024)

💬 We are thankful to our Brazilian partners for their hospitality and substantive discussions on access to water and sanitation issues, which are of paramount importance for sustainable development and an indispensable condition for overcoming present challenges. Efficient water management creates a solid foundation for eradicating poverty and hunger, addressing inequalities, improving health care and quality of life, and reducing environmental risks.

We share the views of the Brazilian presidency regarding insufficient progress in the implementation of SDG 6. A quarter of the world's population still lacks water. Increasing urbanization and inequality may bring the situation to a critical point. It is important that the G20 reaffirm commitment to constructive changes in the area.

☝️ Naturally, positive dynamics in the water sector will rely on the efforts to expand the economic, scientific and technological potential, including through international exchanges and support. The work should focus, first and foremost, on practical aspects of ensuring access to water and on building up implementation tools that have proved effective in the countries in need. <...>

Existing barriers to achieving SDG 6 include inadequate development funding. Amounts allocated are scarce and pale in comparison to the money and weapons «pumped» into burning conflicts. The Global South is facing persistent credit shortages, high interest rates, and the flow of borrowed funds into the Western sovereign debt.

Another challenge for developing countries is that many technologies from developed countries are patent-protected and come at prohibitive prices, which hampers their adoption where they are most needed.

🌐 This sensitive issue was discussed in detail with African partners at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June (the Russian-African conference entitled «Water: More Precious than Gold» was held). Russia reaffirmed its readiness to supply affordable modern equipment, share R&D and experience in searching and exploiting groundwater deposits, improving the quality of water supply, and rational water use.

Cooperation in this field has already been established with a number of African states. We are traditionally intensely working with neighbor partners from Central Asia. The BRICS Clean Rivers Programme initiated by Russia, which seeks to ensure cleaner rivers and prevent pollution of water resources in the #BRICS countries, is being successfully implemented.

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🇷🇺 Russia has unique water reserves that offer unrivalled opportunities for numerous economic sectors. <...> We have gained vast experience and practices in improving the quality of water supply. Russian President Vladimir Putin has set the target of constructing and modernizing at least two thousand drinking water supply and water treatment facilities by 2030. A unified digital inventory of the relevant infrastructure is expected to be launched in 2025.

In 2025, Russia will launch a new integrated federal water project. It will be twice as extensive as the previous ones and will improve living conditions for 22 million people by 2030.

🤝 We will actively participate in global efforts, including in the #G20, aimed at providing universal access to water and sanitation infrastructure.

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📺 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting on the sidelines of the 79th Session.

📍 New York, September 25, 2024

💬 The formation of a multilateral world requires upgrading of the international governance architecture, if we want to build a more just and democratic world order based on the enduring principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interconnection.

#G20, as a leading economic forum, can give a powerful boost to these objective processes that are dictated by life itself. We believe that the G20 should strictly adhere to its mandate and not delve into issues of peace and security and other universal problems, which the UN is here to deal with. It is important that the activities of our platform are strictly based on the principle of consensus.

At the G20 summit in New Delhi in 2023, we promised to strengthen the voice of developing countries in collective decision-making. It is necessary to translate these promises into concrete actions. The reform of international institutions, which must be considered as global public goods, should be carried out taking into account the interests of new growing centres of global development. The current conditions show that there have been significant changes in the balance of economic leaders.

📈 Two years ago, BRICS member countries surpassed the G7 in terms of real GDP. According to forecasts, the ten BRICS members will produce about 37% of the world’s output, while the G7 group will fall to 27% or even lower.

At the same time, we can see the African continent and other regions of the Global South and East quickly rising. Russia is actively reorienting its trade to their markets. This includes the Asia-Pacific region, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.

🌐 Innovative multilateral formats such as #BRICS (where Russia presides in 2024), the SCO, the EAEU, ASEAN, the African Union, and CELAC are becoming increasingly important.

Projects designed to align integration efforts, such as Russia’s flagship Greater Eurasian Partnership initiative, are picking up momentum.

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A tangible progress has been achieved in the context of efforts to de-dollarise the international financial and economic system. In particular, the share of national currencies in Russia’s settlements with the SCO and EAEU countries has exceeded 90%. Russia and its BRICS partners have achieved an indicator equal to 65%, and this figure grows. The share of the dollar in the BRICS payments pattern is currently below 29%.

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🤷‍♂️ Nevertheless, certain global mechanisms are still in the West’s hands, and it tends to abuse them. A matter of particular concern are the attempts on the part of the United States and its allies to impose a confrontational agenda on international organisations in order to make them the vehicles of unilateral restrictions, plunder, impoundment of sovereign assets, trade wars and unfair competition, including in the name of environmentalism and climate.

All of these are clear manifestations of neocolonialism. Over the past ten years, the collective West has introduced more than 21,000 illegal restrictions against Russia alone. Their extraterritorial use – and this is an even more odious, illegitimate, raider-style approach – is primarily affecting the poorest countries and destitute population groups, depriving them of affordable energy, food and fertiliser.

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Another topical task is combat the predominance and influence of Western states’ citizens who occupy top positions in international secretariats.

🇺🇳 A reform of the global governance system should heed the intransient central role of the UN in the system of international relations. The UN Charter and international law should not be substituted by any behind-the-scenes "rules".

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☝️ We should be guided by a striving to achieve genuine multilateralism, the main guarantee of strategic stability, indivisible security and an open and non-discriminatory economy.

Full transcript