Russia, Somalia mull establishment of platform for trade cooperation

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Somali Foreign Minister Abshir Omar Jama said on Friday that he discussed a possibility of creating trade platforms with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov at a meeting in Moscow.

Speaking at a news conference in the Russian capital, Jama said the establishment of such a platform would allow Russian and Somali trade operators and businesses to interact more effectively and use existing opportunities more efficiently.

Lavrov, for his part, said Moscow expressed support for the Somali leadership in state-building, strengthening sovereignty, unity of the country, steps to stabilize the internal situation, and the fight against terrorism and extremism.

The progress in this direction will open opportunities for expanding business community cooperation, he said.

"Entrepreneurs of the Russian Federation are interested in the opportunity to come and work together with Somali partners in the field of energy and mining, as well as other promising areas," he noted.

The minister stressed that Russia is in favor of "African solution to African problems," and for taking into account interests of the African continent when addressing the issue of reforming the UN Security Council.

According to Lavrov, "the reform of the UN Security Council should be aimed exclusively at solving the problem of underrepresentation of developing countries, the countries of the world majority."

Lavrov said he also discussed with Jama the fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia.

According to his assessment, "now the severity of this problem has somewhat decreased," but Moscow and Mogadishu agreed to stay in touch on this issue.