Russia, Mauritania eye development of economic ties

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia and Mauritania have decided to focus on diversifying trade and economic ties, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a news conference in Mauritania's capital Nouakchott, on his first-ever visit working visit to the North African country, Lavrov said at the moment fishery is the most successful area of the Russian-Mauritanian cooperation.

"Apart from fishery, we have little to brag about, so we decided to direct our main efforts to diversify our trade and economic ties, to search for new forms of cooperation. And to this end, we agreed to activate the working group on improving trade and economic cooperation," he said.

The diplomat added that next year Russian and Mauritania would celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, and plan to hold some events in this regard.

Lavrov held several meetings in Mauritania, including with President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani and Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug.

According to the Russian top diplomat, President Ghazouani confirmed his participation in the Russia-Africa summit, scheduled for July in Saint Petersburg.