Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov speaks to the press following his meeting with the Sudanese president in the
The US-Africa Summit will be held in Washington DC from 13 to 15 December. According to the White House, the forum, which involves 49 delegations from African countries and one from the African Union, will be dedicated to strengthening ties between the United States and the region's states to advance common interests.
Moscow does not believe that the US-Africa Summit will hamper cooperation between Russia and the Africa, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the media.
"Such summits have been held by the Chinese, the Turks, the European Union and some other countries. I think that this is all routine; it has been adopted by many countries. We will now hold the second such summit. This is a very useful format. The important thing is the basis these relations are built on. We are building them on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and how other countries, especially western countries, will do the work – I think the Africans will figure it out," the diplomat said.
He also noted that Russia is "interested" in how US-Africa Summit progresses, its "substantive content, discussions and the final document", so Moscow "will be watching closely".
Previously, in an interview with Sputnik, experts described the forthcoming US-Africa Summit as a desperate attempt to counter growing Chinese influence in Africa, with Beijing being the continent's largest trading partner and direct investor.
Cooperation between Russia and Africa has also become more active in recent years. In 2019, the first Russia-Africa forum took place in Sochi; the second one is scheduled for July 2023. Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador at Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed his hope that the summit will bring Russian-African relations "to a different level of interaction", noting that "most African countries perceive Russia as an ally against Western neocolonial domination".
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Africa Interested in Partners, Russia Should Intensify Cooperation, Senator Says
Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev at the Primakov
The highest house of the Russian parliament believes that western opponents of Moscow will likely interfere with the participation of African countries in the second Russia-Africa summit, scheduled to take place next summer.
African countries are interested in external partners and Russia has the opportunity to easily step up its efforts in this direction, argued Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev.
"In Africa, they are interested in external partners, in external investors. It is clear that many of our geopolitical competitors realized this reality before us, [and they] began earlier," the politician noted during a round table meeting on the implementation of the strategic interests of the Russian Federation on the African continent in the current global situation.
According to the lawmaker, the turnover figures speak for themselves. He cited data according to which the EU's trade with African countries is about $300 billion, China's is about $150 billion, and the US' is $50-60 billion.
"Although we have a tendency to increase trade, the volume of it is about $20 billion. Moreover, the gap between our successes, and we have them, and the results of our geopolitical competitors are not closing," Kosachev said.
At the same time, the senator noted that it is enough for Russia to simply increase its activity in Africa's direction, there are a large number of objective prerequisites for this. In particular, he said it is the case of public opinion in African countries, where the population remembers the role played by Russia in the continent's decolonization.
“This is also the preservation of political will in a number of countries of the continent to develop relations with Russia," Kosachev said, noting that that graduates of Russian and Soviet universities occupy the top offices in some African states.
However, he argued that in cooperation with Africa, it is precisely the systematic work to build partnerships that should be carried out. Although the ministries, intergovernmental commissions and the Russia-Africa forum are actively working, he noted that "this is not yet forming into some kind of purposeful and long-term strategy."
He emphasized that two more serious points of Russian efforts in the African direction have now appeared. These are the organizing committee for the preparation of the Russia-Africa summit and the mechanism for regular interdepartmental meetings in the government, which are held by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, Kosachev said.
"Two meaningful, in my opinion, meetings were held in July and November of this year. Based on the results, specific instructions were given to departments," Kosachev concluded.
