Prime ministers discuss topical issues of Russia-Lebanon trade, economic, industrial, energy, cultural and humanitarian cooperation.
Excerpts from the transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, Mr al-Hariri. We are happy to welcome you at the Government of the Russian Federation.
You have been to Moscow several times, but your current visit is taking place during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. As they say in the Middle East, Ramadan Mubarak.
You have already spoken with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
We will review matters of trade and economic cooperation that require our joint attention, namely, the Government of Lebanon and the Government of the Russian Federation.
First of all, I would like to praise your principled approach in favour of expanding friendly Russian-Lebanese relations. You continue the work of your father, Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafik al-Hariri, in a worthy manner. He made a major personal contribution to strengthening cooperation between our countries.
Lebanon is our important partner in the Middle East. Our nations are linked by strong bonds of friendship and mutual respect. Russia was among the first countries to recognise the independence of Lebanon, and we consistently support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Lebanese state.
We would like to give a new impetus to our trade and economic cooperation. Unfortunately, mutual trade plunged by 38 percent, due to the coronavirus infection, and now totals about $320 million. Of course, this situation does not suit us. We need to rectify this situation and to expand mutual trade.
It is very important to attract investment, and it is necessary to create the most favourable conditions for investors. There are good opportunities for doing this in industrial production, machine building, agriculture, and transport infrastructure. And, of course, we are happy to offer the most advanced digital technologies and services in various industrial and economic spheres to the Lebanese party.
Members of our joint inter-governmental commission should address all these matters. Quite recently, Anton Shalayev, Head of Rosstandart (Federal Agency for Technical Regulation and Metrology), was appointed its Russian co-chair. We are ready to continue cooperating in fighting the coronavirus pandemic as part of this work. We have provided humanitarian relief to Lebanon, we have delivered COVID-19 testing kits and reagents, and we will continue this mutual activity.
And, of course, we consider efforts to strengthen people-to-people contacts to be the most important aspect of the humanitarian sphere. A large Russian community has been living in Lebanon since the 20th century, and we consider it highly important to provide a new impetus to our cooperation in the field of culture, the arts and people-to-people contacts. I am ready to discuss all topical matters with you. Mr al-Hariri, you have the floor.
Saad al-Hariri (via interpreter): Thank you very much for your hospitality. I am also grateful for your warm words in connection with Ramadan. I know that your country realises the meaning of this month because many Muslims live in Russia. As you have noted correctly, my father, Rafik al-Hariri, helped establish the current warm relations between our countries.
You are well aware that Lebanon is now facing very complicated socioeconomic conditions, and that the country is in a difficult situation. In these conditions, we rely on Russia’s all-round assistance to Lebanon, including efforts to contain the coronavirus infection. You are already providing us with the relevant assistance in the form of vaccines, which we are actively using to inoculate our people, but we would like to receive more of them, especially given the difficulties facing our country. I am talking about the 1.5 million Syrian refugees on our territory and the socioeconomic conditions I mentioned.
You also know that Lebanon’s difficulties are linked with the fact that we have so far failed to establish a government that would launch comprehensive reforms. But I am confident that this will eventually happen. And when this happens, we will need external assistance to implement these reforms. In this context, we hope for Russian corporate investment in power production, infrastructure and transport. We will be ready to assist Russian companies in every way, so that they would enter the Lebanese market and provide us with the relevant assistance.
I would also like to note that because of the complicated economic conditions, in fact, the crisis plaguing our country, representatives of the business community have every chance of entering Lebanon. Now that local prices have plunged, the Lebanese market is particularly promising.
We are also reviewing plans to expand the tourism industry, naturally, after the epidemiological situation returns to normal.