Rabat – Russia\u2019s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to visit Morocco in February as part of his second-round Africa tour.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Lavrov arrived in South Africa, where he is holding talks with local authorities.<\/p>\n
In addition to South Africa, Lavrov is set to visit Eswatini, Angola, and Botswana.<\/p>\n
According to converging reports, Lavrov is also set to return <\/a>to the continent to continue his African tour with visits to Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania in February.<\/p>\n Lavrov\u2019s Africa tour comes amid Russia\u2019s determination to expand and boost cooperation with African countries after facing sanctions from Europe.<\/p>\n The European Union seeks to put a complete ban on Russian oil product exports, starting on February 5.<\/p>\n Ahead of the EU embargo, Russia has decided to increase <\/a>diesel deliveries to both Morocco and Turkiye as part of its approach to tackle the situation.<\/p>\n In addition to Morocco, Russia also aims to reroute its oil products to other countries on the continent, as well as to Asia, and Latin America.<\/p>\n Russian billionaire businessman and President of mining company Nornickel Vladimir Potanin told <\/a><\/strong>Russia\u2019s RBC television on Monday: \u201cNaturally, we find ways out of this situation. We are restructuring logistics chains to more friendly countries. First of all, to China, Turkey, Morocco, and other Arab countries.\u201d<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s diesel supplies to Morocco have increased to around 735,000 tonnes in 2022 compared to as little as 66,000 tonnes a year earlier, according to stock market website Market news.<\/p>\n Data from the Observatory of the Economic Complex (EC) documents a good trade partnership between Moscow and Rabat.<\/p>\n