ISLAMABAD: Monitoring Desk – Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered “total support” for Africa, including in the struggle against terrorism and extremism.The speech was read out at Russia Africa Ministerial Conference of Foreign Ministers on 09-10 Nov 2024 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to his African counterparts.
The first Russia-Africa ministerial conference took place on November 9-10 in Russia’s Sirius Federal Territory. According to Anton Kobyakov, an Advisor to the Russian President and the Executive Secretary of the forum’s Organizing Committee, the conference was attended by delegations from 54 countries and 45 African ministers.
The participants of the second Russia-Africa ministerial conference consider important to expand the use of national currencies in mutual trade and financial settlements, according to a joint statement released following the meeting on Monday.
Lavrov said Russia’s relations with Africa were strengthening “more and more” with progress “on all axes”.
A ministerial conference was launched on Saturday in the Sirius Federal District in the Russian city of Sochi, discussing the partnership between Russia and Africa, with the participation of dozens of African countries.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the conference “shows that there are those who defend the peoples of Africa,” stressing that it makes the countries and peoples of the African continent realize that “there are those who stand by them”.
Zakharova explained, according to what was reported by Russian media, that Africans must realize that they aren’t doomed to remain suppliers of raw materials forever, and they are already participating in ending the era of colonialism.
Zakharova considered that this conference is important for the African continent, which needs to rely on global powers in order to move forward to overcome the problems that Africans always talk about, including poverty and the lack of opportunities to achieve technological breakthroughs.
The Russian official pointed out that these problems were created precisely by those who considered Africa their colony and believed that it would remain so forever.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously announced that representatives of all African countries had been invited to participate in the conference, in addition to the African Union, the Southern African Development Community, and the Economic Community of West African States.
The Russian Foreign Ministry explained that the two-day ministerial conference will continue to develop the decisions of the second Russia-Africa summit, which was held in the summer of 2023 in St. Petersburg.
FREE TRADE ZONES WITH ALGERIA, EGYPT, MOROCCO, TUNISIA
On this regard, Anton Kobyakov, advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced that Russia is working to establish free trade zones with 4 Arab and African countries.
Kobyakov spoke during a press conference on the sidelines of the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa, about the start of talks on concluding such agreements with Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
Kobyakov explained that talks are currently underway to unify trade and investment legislation with South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Zambia, Mozambique and Nigeria.He stressed that free trade agreements with African countries could become an important element in the economic partnership between the two parties.
The Russian official stressed his country’s interest in its relations with Africa in the areas of security, especially food security, ensuring peace and sovereignty, access to education, building human relations, forming and participating in parallel unions, preserving the unique nature of the African continent, health care, energy security, and the economic sector.
Anton Kobyakov stressed, “providing security to the countries of the African continent is a practical and vital necessity for Russia,” noting that “Russia has so far signed military-technical cooperation agreements with 33 countries on the African continent”.
In another context, Kobyakov stated that Russia plans to create an independent financial infrastructure for payment by increasing the share of settlements between Russia and Africa in the currencies of friendly countries to 90% by 2030″.
The conference brought together the foreign ministers of Russia and African countries, as well as officials from the African Union Commission and the executive bodies of regional integration unions.
JOINT STATEMENT
