Moscow is counting on signing major new contracts between Russia and African partners, said Oleg Ozerov, deputy director of the African Department at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at a press conference organized by the Russia Today MIA.
He recalled that very large contracts were signed at the Russia-Africa summit, held in Sochi in October 2019, RIA Novosti reported.
“Now very hard work is going on both on the implementation of those projects that have been signed and on the preparation of new ones. I assure you that they will be because we see from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs great interest on the part of our companies in developing relations with Africa,” noted Ozerov.
“Now we are witnessing a very active movement with large countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, and some smaller ones. And we very much hope that these contacts and negotiations will end with the signing of very serious contracts,” the diplomat said.
In turn, the Director-General of the INF Treaty, Andrei Kortunov, noted the importance of attracting medium-sized businesses to cooperate with Africa.
“I believe that we have something to offer Africa and at the level of higher education, in health care, urban planning. Africa is a continent where, in the next decade, there will probably be the most rapid development of megacities,” he added.
Russia can have beneficial cooperation with the African continent in almost all segments, said the former Ambassador of the Republic of Benin to the Russian Federation, general director of the International Coordinating Council of Graduates of educational institutions Aniset Gabriel Kochofa.
“First of all, it is security, energy, high technology, innovation, information technology, telecommunications, education and science, healthcare and telemedicine, agriculture, tourism, mining, transport, trade – all these areas are necessary for the African continent,” he said.
The first Russia-Africa summit was held in Sochi in October 2019 at the initiative of Russia, chaired by President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. According to Putin, the Russia-Africa summit has opened a new page in relations between the Russian Federation and the states of the continent. More than six thousand delegates from 104 countries gathered in Sochi, including the heads of more than 40 African states and more than 120 foreign ministers.
