Lavrov Arrives in Johannesburg to Attend G20 Top Diplomats' Meeting — Correspondent

The Russian foreign minister is expected to deliver a speech at the event and hold a number of bilateral talks on the sidelines

© Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

JOHANNESBURG, February 20. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in South Africa to participate in the meeting of the G20 top diplomats. The government plane landed at Johannesburg airport, a TASS correspondent reported.

The meeting will be held in the country's largest city for two days: February 20 and 21. Lavrov is expected to deliver a speech at the event and hold a number of bilateral talks on the sidelines.

According to Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the foreign minister will address the participants of the meeting with a detailed analysis of the international situation, focusing on the causes of "the critical conflict events that have been observed and are still being observed." She said that Lavrov will outline concrete steps to overcome destructive phenomena. Zakharova pointed out that Russia will use the G20 platform to call for maintaining the openness of the world economy, rejecting trade wars, illegitimate, criminal sanctions and other manifestations of unfair competition.

During his speech, Lavrov will also touch upon "the problems of those associations that build honest, productive interaction without diktat, without blackmail: these are the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS." Zakharova noted that special attention will be paid in Lavrov's speech to the issue of Russia's Greater Eurasian Partnership initiative.