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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday promised Moscow’s “total support” for Africa, at a conference with African officials in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi. The summit includes roundtable discussions and panel sessions on key items on the Russian-African agenda.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday promised Moscow’s “total support” for Africa, at a conference with African officials in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi. The summit includes roundtable discussions and panel sessions on key items on the Russian-African agenda. Putin said Russia could help countries with “sustainable development, the struggle against terrorism and extremism, combating epidemics, food problems and the consequences of natural disasters.”
This first-ever ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership forum is being chaired by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and opened in the city of Sochi on Saturday. The two-day event is taking place at Sirius University, with the participation of foreign ministers from Russia and African states, as well as the leadership of the African Union Commission and major continental integration associations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The business program on the sidelines of the conference features roundtable discussions and panel sessions on key items on the Russian-African agenda, including security, trade and investment, industrialization, technology transfers, agriculture, the development of the mining sector, education, healthcare and epidemiological safety.
The ministry said Lavrov held six bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Libya, Mali, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda earlier in the day. Speaking at a meeting with Libyan Foreign Minister Taher al-Baour, Lavrov said the situation in the Middle East is changing fast. Libya wants to contribute as much as possible to its pacification in the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, and in Libya, he added. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, for his part, held talks with his counterparts from Ghana, Sierra Leone and Somalia.
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The conference is another chance for Russia to promote its vision of a “multipolar world” a month after it hosted a BRICS summit of major emerging economies. Russia wants to show that Western sanctions aimed at isolating it over its Ukraine offensive have failed.
Russia was a major player in Africa in Soviet times and has been growing in influence on the continent in recent years, including with the help of Russian mercenary groups and through large investments in the raw materials sector.
