At the end of a series of bilateral meetings "on the sidelines" of the eighth summit of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a conversation with the Chairman of the Presidential Council of the State of Libya Muhammad Manfi (October 28, 2026) V.V. Putin: Dear Mr. Chairman! Dear colleagues, friends! We are happy to see you again and welcome you to Moscow. She is our old partner in North Africa. Last year marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Interaction on multilateral platforms, in particular within the framework of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, the Moscow summit in which we participated together, as well as in OPEC Plus, allows us to jointly develop measures to ensure global energy security. Tomorrow we will start working on the third Russia-Africa summit, and I am sure it will also be an interesting and useful interaction. Despite the difficult situation in politics and the international economy, mutual trade continues to develop. In April, the first meeting of the co-chairs of the joint intergovernmental commission was held in Moscow. We are of course interested in a quick renewal of its full activity. Manpower training for the Libyan state continues on the basis of local universities. This year we increased the number of budget places for your students to 100 units. In total there are one and a half thousand students from Libya in Russian universities. In 2025–2026, 25 diplomats from Tripoli and Benghazi completed advanced training courses at the MGIMO Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Today we have a good opportunity to exchange views on the prospects for further expansion of bilateral cooperation and to consider the most urgent issues on the international and regional agenda. Again, I'm very happy to see you, welcome.

At the end of a series of bilateral meetings "on the sidelines" of the eighth summit of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a conversation with the Chairman of the Presidential Council of the State of Libya Muhammad Manfi (October 28, 2026) V.V. Putin: Dear Mr. Chairman! Dear colleagues, friends! We are happy to see you again and welcome you to Moscow. She is our old partner in North Africa. Last year marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Interaction on multilateral platforms, in particular within the framework of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, the Moscow summit in which we participated together, as well as in OPEC Plus, allows us to jointly develop measures to ensure global energy security. Tomorrow we will start working on the third Russia-Africa summit, and I am sure it will also be an interesting and useful interaction. Despite the difficult situation in politics and the international economy, mutual trade continues to develop. In April, the first meeting of the co-chairs of the joint intergovernmental commission was held in Moscow. We are of course interested in a quick renewal of its full activity. Manpower training for the Libyan state continues on the basis of local universities. This year we increased the number of budget places for your students to 100 units. In total there are one and a half thousand students from Libya in Russian universities. In 2025–2026, 25 diplomats from Tripoli and Benghazi completed advanced training courses at the MGIMO Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Today we have a good opportunity to exchange views on the prospects for further expansion of bilateral cooperation and to consider the most urgent issues on the international and regional agenda. Again, I'm very happy to see you, welcome.