Vladimir Putin told what is common between Russia and Africa

President Vladimir Putin spoke at the plenary session “Russia-Africa in a Multipolar World” of the international parliamentary conference. The event was a preparation for the second Russia-Africa summit, which will be held in St. Petersburg on July 27-28.

Putin said that the first Russia-Africa summit, which took place in Sochi in 2019, allowed Russia to revive ties with African states. Russia “has always paid and will continue to give priority to cooperation with African states,” calling it one of the invariable priorities of Russian foreign policy, the president stressed. In his opinion, Africa will become one of the leaders of “the emerging new multipolar world order.” Africa has 1.5 billion people, “has a huge resource base – almost a third of the world’s mineral reserves,” and although Africa accounts for only 3% of global GDP, the economies of many countries on the continent are growing at a faster pace, he said.

The head of state stressed that African countries are striving to pursue an independent and sovereign foreign and domestic policy, and said that Russia and Africa “oppose the neo-colonial ideology imposed from outside.” “By the way, many states of Asia, the Middle East and Latin America adhere to similar positions, and together we make up the world majority,” the president said. Then Putin spoke about Russia’s interactions with Africa in various areas, recalling that Russia had written off debts to African countries in the amount of more than $20 billion.

grain deal

The President did not ignore the “grain deal”. He stated that Russia is fulfilling its obligations to supply food, fertilizers and fuel to African countries. Russia insists on complying with Russian requirements in the agreements so that “grain and fertilizers go to the needy states of Africa, and not be transported to well-fed European markets, to well-fed European countries,” he said. According to Putin, of the total volume of grain exported from Ukraine, 45% went to European countries, and only 3% went to Africa.

“I emphasize that only when our position is taken into account will a fair and comprehensive implementation of the Black Sea “grain deal” be ensured, and depending on this, we will decide on our further participation. [в ней]”, Putin said. According to him, from August 1, 2022 to March 20, 2023, 827 ships left Ukraine, of which only 3 million tons of grain were sent to Africa, and 1.3 million to the poorest countries in Africa. At the same time, almost 12 million tons were sent from Russia to Africa. And he noted that if Russia decides not to renew the deal after 60 days, then “we are ready to deliver all the volume that was sent in the previous time to African countries in particular need, to deliver from Russia to these countries for free.”

The significance of the summit

At the opening of the conference, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin thanked the conference participants for coming to Moscow, although it was not just “not just because of the unprecedented pressure and threats, because of the opposition that was created for the participants of our conference by Washington and Brussels.” “Thank you that our friendship is stronger than the actions of those who wanted to separate us,” the speaker said. He said that Russia and Africa are united by common ideas, in particular the building of a multipolar world, and “Washington and Brussels are striving to take control of Russian and African natural resources.”

Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said that the conference was attended by delegations from 40 African countries, more than 200 parliamentarians of various ranks, including 14 heads of legislative bodies. Before the summit, more than 100 preparatory events would be held in St. Petersburg, he said, and the heads of many African states and regional organizations would take part in the July summit itself. “This summit, which will be held in St. Petersburg, is of great importance for the further development of the entire range of relations – political, trade, economic, and military-technical between Russia and African countries,” Ushakov noted. The first summit was held in 2019 in Sochi.

The parliamentary conference in Moscow was held by the State Duma. Among its tasks, as reported by the press service of the lower house, are “strengthening parliamentary cooperation with African countries in the context of the formation of a multipolar world, developing relations and developing common approaches to legal regulation in the economy, in the field of science and education, and in the field of security.”

After the first Russian-African summit in 2019, relations between Russia and Africa are still at the start, says researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Lukyanov. “We had to build new relations in the context of a pandemic, then a special operation began, and their final development can be assessed when the international situation reaches some kind of “plateau” of new normality,” he says. So far, the institutional framework in the African direction has not been created, the expert adds: “We are talking about political events that have not yet been properly converted into economic ties, contacts between the civil and business communities, like in the US, EU, China and India.”

Active inter-parliamentary interaction between Russia and Africa has been going on for a long time and can only be welcomed, says Lukyanov. “There are hopes that Russian-African political contacts, in particular, at the inter-parliamentary conference, will be converted into real agreements, which will be announced at the June Russia-Africa forum,” the expert notes.