Russia continues providing assistance to Africa in building human resource capacity: President Putin

Addis Ababa, July 24, 2023 (FBC) – Russia supports Africa’s endeavors to seize rightful place to determine world’s fate said Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the president office of Russia.  

In his recent opinion piece the president has shared his vision of the development of Russia-Africa relations with the readers of the leading media on the African continent, outlining priority cooperation areas for the coming decades of the 21st century.

He said that the partnership relations between Russia and Africa have strong, deep roots and have always been distinguished by stability, trust and goodwill.

He added that Russia and Africa are brought together by a common desire to shape a system of relations based on the priority of international law, respect for national interests, indivisibility of security, and recognition of the central coordinating role of the United Nations.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia welcomes the rising international authority of individual states as well as Africa as a whole, their desire to make their voices strongly heard and to take the continent’s problems into their own hands.

“We have always supported the constructive initiatives of our partners. We stand for granting African countries their rightful place in the structures that determine the world’s fate, including the UN Security Council and the G20, as well as for reforming the global financial and trade institutions in a way that meets their interests”, Putin  has stated.

He noted Russia’s trade turnover with the African countries increased in 2022 and reached almost 18 billion US dollars.

“Russian companies are interested in working more actively on the continent in the sphere of high technologies and geological exploration, in the fuel and energy complex, including nuclear power, in the chemical industry, mining and transport engineering, agriculture and fishery”, the Russian President stated.

Regarding the recent terminated grain deal President Vladimir Putin gave his assurances that Russia is capable of replacing the Ukrainian grain both on a commercial and free-of-charge basis, especially as the country expects another record harvest this year.

In his conclusion, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated the importance of the upcoming second Russia–Africa Summit.

He said that the Summit would adopt a comprehensive Declaration, a number of joint statements and approve the Russia – Africa Partnership Forum Action Plan to 2026.