On 24-27 January the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov successively visited Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. On 24 January Lavrov met in Alger the Algerian Foreign Minster M. Abdelkader Messahel. The two ministers agreed on the necessity to diversify the bilateral cooperation. On energy cooperation they announced that new cooperation avenues will be considered during the 9^th Algerian-Russian economic commission that will take place in Moscow on 28-30 January. Terrorism, climate change and cooperation within the context of United Nations were also on the agenda. On 25 January Lavrov was in Morocco to meet Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and Moroccan King Mohamed VI (the latter visited Moscow in March 2016). Also in this meeting Lavrov stressed the necessity to find a consensual solution within the UN Security Council in order to solve varies crisis in the MENA regions. He also stated that “Sahara issue requires consensual solution pursuant to UNSC resolutions”. On 27 January he met the Tunisian President Essebsi and the Tunisian Foreign Minister Jhinaoui. Lavrov announced that Russia will try to level the trade balance between the two countries. The two parties agreed to intensify bilateral relations especially in the fields of trade, education and tourism (In 2018 Tunisia received more than 600.000 Russian tourists). They also exchanged views on the situation in the MENA region. Russia announced it would endorse the Tunisian candidacy as a non-permanent member of UN Security Council.