Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Russia has never closed its door to the West and remains ready to cooperate with Western countries that abandon hostile thinking towards it.
Meanwhile, Lavrov stressed that Russia does not want or plan to wage war with Europe, but is prepared if Europe decides to initiate conflict.
The prospect for direct dialogue with Europe remains unclear, Lavrov said, noting that the West is departing from the objective trend toward multipolarity globally.
Lavrov made the remarks at the fourth Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security that opened in the Belarusian capital on Tuesday.
The event hosted by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry brought together more than 600 representatives from around 50 countries and regions.
In his opening speech, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko noted that building a sustainable security and development model in Eurasia is a practical necessity that will benefit the world.
He said that the high level of protests across Europe should raise caution, and urged EU nations to seek avenues for cooperation.
The Belarusian president also said that the Ukrainian crisis could potentially trigger another major war and expressed hope that a peaceful resolution will be found swiftly to the conflict.
The agenda of the two-day Minsk conference includes arms control, the role of new technologies in security, and the development of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which has six members: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
Russian FM says ready to cooperate with West, but well prepared in face of conflict
The 9th Hongqiao International Economic Forum opened in Shanghai on Thursday, convening business leaders and representatives from around the world to explore paths to a more open global economy together.
The two-day event is being held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center under the theme "Stability and Cooperation: Building an Open World Economy Together," bringing a series of parallel sessions and report releases alongside the main discussions.
Now in its ninth edition, the forum has grown into a premier platform for dialogue on global economic cooperation, with a series of parallel sessions and report launches running alongside the main discussions.
A major highlight was the unveiling of the World Openness Report 2026, which showed that global openness tightened significantly in 2025, even as emerging and developing economies moved in the opposite direction, with China continuing to rank at the forefront among them.
Chinese and international experts at the gathering urged countries worldwide to join hands in fostering global openness and cooperation based on mutual trust, inclusiveness and accessibility.
Also making its debut was the Export-to-China Capacity Development Report, which analyzes China's market demand and import policies from multiple perspectives and aims to help other countries, particularly those in the Global South, enhance their capacity to export to the Chinese market.
The parallel sessions covered a broad agenda, from China's development achievements in the 25 years since its accession to the World Trade Organization to free and fair trade, cooperation on industrial competitiveness, and Hong Kong's new opportunities as its development strategies align with the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Discussions also turned to global economic rebalancing and innovation in the humanoid robot and embodied AI industries, with several research reports released during the sessions.
The forum is running alongside the 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE), which opened in Shanghai the same day, drawing more than 4,100 overseas exhibitors from 148 countries and regions.
First held in 2018 as the world's first national-level expo dedicated to imports, the CIIE has since evolved into a vital gateway for foreign businesses seeking access to China's vast consumer and industrial markets.
9th Hongqiao Forum opens in Shanghai, exploring paths to a more open global economy
