Question: Next year, as you know, Russia will host the second Russia-Africa summit. How will it be different from the first one in 2019? What tasks will Russia face at this summit?
Answer: We continue to actively prepare for the second Russia-Africa summit, which should take place in the summer of 2023. A corresponding organizing committee has been created, which is headed by Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Yuri Ushakov.
Against the background of the West’s campaign to isolate Russia politically and economically, work is being done at all levels to create new tools and mechanisms of cooperation with African states. We plan to include in the summit’s agenda a discussion of issues related to building a new architecture of the world order in conditions of strengthening multipolarity, including in the area of international security. We also think it would be useful to touch upon food and energy security, health, humanitarian cooperation, especially education, science and culture.
Question: How do you see Russia’s cooperation with the African continent in the near future? Has the situation around Ukraine affected relations with African countries? What is the Western pressure on our partners in Africa in connection with their desire to develop cooperation with Russia?
Answer: Russia and Africa have always had strong ties of friendship and trust, which over the past decades have successfully passed the test of strength. Our country is interested in continuing a multifaceted partnership with Africa, including the expansion of political dialogue and the enhancement of economic and humanitarian cooperation.
Indeed, since the start of the special military operation the West has significantly increased pressure on the countries of the continent in an attempt to influence our relations with the region. Just look at the American bill “On Countering Russia’s Malevolent Activities in Africa”, which provides for the imposition of sanctions on Africans for any cooperation with Russia. However, African countries, fed up with the pressure of former metropolitans and outright diktat of who to cooperate with and who not, have clearly expressed their position on this document. The states of the region officially refrain from joining the anti-Russian sanctions and view negatively the attempts by Washington and its NATO allies to impose them. We are grateful to our African partners for their balanced position.
Q: How does Moscow feel about the fact that a number of African countries support anti-Russian resolutions on Ukraine at the UN General Assembly? Does this reflect on our bilateral co-operation?
Answer: With understanding. In fact, if we take a closer look at the voting figures on the anti-Russian draft resolutions of the UNGA, the picture is not so pessimistic.
More than half of the abstentions on the first three documents (on aggression against Ukraine, on the humanitarian consequences of aggression against Ukraine, and on the territorial integrity of Ukraine) came from African countries. On the recent resolution on reparations to Ukraine the picture looks even better: only 15 of 54 African states supported it, 27 abstained, 7 did not participate and 5 even voted against it.
As for those who voted “for”, we know that the Westerners resort to outright blackmail – a kind of “democracy at gunpoint”: many countries, not only Africans, could not withstand the pressure and, unfortunately, were forced to publicly speak out “for” the initiative pushed by the West at the UN.
The situation as a whole is understandable. We cannot say that the voting of African states at the UN will in any way affect our further interaction with them. We are ready to continue developing our cooperation in all fields.
Question: As the terrorist threat on the continent is growing, does Russia intend to assist in stabilizing the situation in a number of African states? How does Moscow assess the situation in Mali and Burkina Faso?
Answer: We are extremely concerned about the development of security situation on the African continent. The Sahara-Sahel region has created the most favorable conditions for restoring the capabilities of ISIS and Al-Qaida. There is growing tension in the Liptako-Gurma triangle, the border areas of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, where there is high activity of ISIS in the Great Sahara and the Islamic and Muslim Support Group.
Russia’s activities on the African continent are fully guided by the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign States or the well-known formula: “African problems – African solutions”. In that spirit, we continue to assist our partners in building peacekeeping, training military and law enforcement personnel, and transferring our competencies. I would remind you that Russia is among the 10 major contributors to UN peacekeeping budgets, and 80 percent of Russia’s contribution goes to African peacekeeping.
Q.: In what areas does economic cooperation between Russia and Africa perform best? What are the prospects for cooperation in the oil and gas sectors?
Answer: Africa is one of the key and fast-growing export markets for our producers. We are well aware of the importance of Russian products for the socio-economic development of states in the region, the achievement of food security indicators and the achievement of sustainable development goals.
Partners are interested in purchasing a wide range of domestic products, such as grains and fertilizers, including nitrogen ones. Our country is a reliable supplier.
Regarding the energy sector, it is absolutely clear that the continent has the necessary resources not only for self-sufficiency, but also to export products. Many countries in West, Central and East Africa have their own sources of oil and gas, and, of course, the oil and gas industry on the continent will continue to develop at a rapid pace. The task before us is to facilitate the creation of a reliable infrastructure for the production and transportation of African energy products and the development of domestic markets.
Q.: The Russian government recently approved an agreement on cooperation between Moscow and Rabat on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. What kind of projects does this cooperation imply? With which countries on the continent could Russia develop cooperation on peaceful nuclear energy?
Answer: First of all, I would like to note that the Russian Federation is open to cooperation in this field with all interested states. In our view, the peaceful atom fits well on the energy transition agenda that the African continent is discussing.
As for Morocco, the aforementioned agreement is still being prepared for signing, the place and time of which have not yet been determined. ROSATOM has other projects in Africa in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy: we are talking about the supply and construction of facilities. I think it would be better to ask them about the prospects for these projects.
Question: How is the cooperation with African countries on food security going? Given the current world situation and the economic crisis, is Russia ready to supply its food and fertilizers to the needy countries in Africa?
Answer: The issue of food security is high on the agenda of African countries. Some countries of the continent are critically dependent on imported agricultural products, and these supplies are essential to maintaining social stability here.
The West continues an active campaign to blame Russia for the current crisis situation on the global food market. However, Africa is well aware of the true causes of the current difficulties caused by the consequences of the pandemic coronavirus infection and the short-sighted policies of developed Western countries in the field of finance, energy and agricultural production.
Today we are faced with a situation where Russian agricultural products and fertilizers sent, including to Africa, are blocked at European ports. As for the “grain deal” on the export of wheat from Ukraine, until recently most of these cargoes were sent precisely to rich European countries, and not to the really “needy,” as Western world leaders have stated. As of November 21, according to the data of the Joint Coordination Center of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, out of 483 ships, which left Ukrainian ports, only 61 went to Africa, and 324 or two thirds – to Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin called this “another deception of the international community, partners of Africa, other countries that need food.
As you know, Russia’s participation in the “grain deal” was suspended on October 29. This decision was taken by the leadership of our country in connection with massive attacks by the Ukrainian armed forces on the infrastructure of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at the Sevastopol naval base. Just a few days ago, the initiative was extended again, and our continued participation in it will depend on compliance with all the necessary safeguards. We trust that from now on the needs of the world’s countries most in need will be taken into account.
In turn, Russia will continue to conscientiously carry out its obligations under international contracts for the export of agricultural products, fertilisers, energy resources and other essential goods to Africa.
Question: Earlier Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation said that Russia and Africa were working on gradually decreasing the share of the dollar and the euro in their mutual trade. How is this work progressing?
Answer: Yes, indeed, our task now is to find new ways of cooperation that do not depend on Western currencies and sanctions policy. Undoubtedly, the illegal restrictions imposed against Russia have a negative effect on foreign economic relations, which dictates the need to urgently reconfigure the tools of cooperation.
First and foremost, we are looking for solutions to ensure uninterrupted logistics and the establishment of independent financial settlement systems. We work to maintain and strengthen the Russian-African mutually beneficial trade and investment relations and to provide all possible assistance to Russian and African economic operators in getting access to the markets of our countries. We are mutually interested in the development of multifaceted cooperation. We are counting on the joint search for solutions and are set to work coherently to build an updated architecture of trade and economic relations.
Question: Which African countries would like to join BRICS? How soon can Algeria and Egypt join this association?
Answer: The BRICS is in fact discussing the possibility of expanding its membership. At the BRICS summit of June 23-24 this year it was decided to launch discussions to define the principles, standards, criteria and procedures of this process.
We welcome the interest of our Algerian friends to join in cooperation within the framework of the association. We highly appreciate the participation of the President of Algeria, Mr. Teboun, in the dialogue with developing countries in the “BRICS Plus” format held within the framework of the XIV Summit of the association on June 24 this year.
Egypt has also been cooperating with the association for quite a long time. Last December it was decided to join the New Development Bank. Egyptian representatives repeatedly participated in the “outreach” and “BRICS Plus” segments within the framework of the P5 events.
In addition to Cairo and Algeria, Africa was represented at the previous BRICS summit by the leaders of Senegal and Ethiopia, and Nigeria’s Ministerial Minister Onyeama was also invited to the BRICS summit.
We are consistently in favor of deepening the BRICS’ interaction with the African continent. In particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about this at the enlarged meeting of the BRICS+ Leaders on June 24. We expect that during the Chairmanship of our South African friends in the association in 2023, this area of work will receive an additional impetus.
