Relations with African countries are among
the most important and promising themes of Russian politics, with increasing
interest shown in this subject in recent years. Meetings devoted to the
development of RussianAfrican relations have become a regular occurrence since
2017. The first RussiaAfrica Public Forum was held in October 2018 and
demonstrated the scale of public interest in building a dialogue. The
RussiaAfrica Summit was the largest event in the history of RussianAfrican
relations and was attended by the heads of most African countries. The
opportunities offered by this collaboration are enormous. On the one hand,
Africa has natural resources and record growth rates in the population,
economies, and living standards. On the other hand, it has political weight,
experience in the development of mineral resources, scientific, production, and
technological potential as well as financial opportunities.
The prospects for such collaboration are
beyond promising and they not only include an economic and political component,
but a humanitarian element as well. The renaissance of RussianAfrican
relations will have an impact on social affairs, including the development of
civil society, and will affect the formation and accumulation of human capital.
And that is something we need to think about today. This issue was discussed at
the Building Trust Area of the RussiaAfrica Economic Forum, which combines two
of the Roscongress Foundations projects the Innovation Space and the
Innosocium LAB.
The session RussiaAfrica: Whats Next? was
moderated by Nataliya Zaiser, Chair of the Board of the Africa Business
Initiative Union, and Vladimir Chetiy, President of the Global Alumni Alliance.
The panellists included: Andrey Kemarsky, Director of the Department of Africa
at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Farit Mukhametshin, Deputy Chair of
the Russian Federation Councils Committee on International Affairs; Igor
Morozov, Deputy Chair of the Russian Federation Councils Committee on Science,
Education, and Culture; Yevgeny Tulubensky, Chief Legal Officer for Corporate
and Regulatory Affairs and a Member of the Board of Directors at Nordgold;
Vladimir Yurtaev, Professor at the Department of Theory and History of
International Relations at the Peoples Friendship University of Russia; and
Roman Marshavin, Executive Director for the Russian Federation and Syrian Arab
Republic at the World Bank Group.
«RussianAfrican relations are very
multifaceted and affect almost all spheres of life. There is still a lot of
room for them to develop and it needs to be utilized. There is a wide margin
for the development of trade and economic cooperation. The potential here is
underutilized and is not consistent with the high level of political relations
that we have achieved. There have been some successes and commodity circulation
is on the rise, but not at the pace we would like. African markets are
extremely important for the Russian economy. We can expand the joint use of
natural resources, introduce our high technologies, and develop tourism. The
most important and traditional sphere is education. Training specialists
creates a very important foundation for the future by strengthening both
bilateral relations and public relations. Graduates of Russian universities
actively cooperate with our country and create associations, and such a
movement undoubtedly deserves to be supported at the highest levels. We are
working in a rather fierce competition. We must remain calm about this. We have
the opportunity to overcome negative factors. And public relations will play a
very important role on this path», Kemarsky said.
At the same time, despite the rich past of
RussianAfrican relations, a lot of work needs to be done to restore the former
level of relations. «The discussion at the Forum showed that African countries
and Russia do not know each other well enough today. This needs to be fixed. We
need to provide awareness about our affairs, our education, new technologies,
the security sector, and the experience of the state guaranteeing investment
projects. This should not only be done by public organizations, but also by
embassies, business associations, and chambers of commerce and industry. It is
crucial to intensify this work and to search for common ground. The second
thing is that we have huge projects and contracts, but that is not enough. If
we do not attain a level of cooperation in small and medium-sized business as
well as specific contacts between enterprises, between cities, and between
individual projects, then we will not accomplish much. We need to expand the
number of specialists from African countries studying in Russia and give them
the right to work at Russian enterprises. And, accordingly, we need to
intensify work with graduates of the Soviet and Russian periods and look for
people who already understand us better and can find common ground», Mukhametshin said.
And we wont have to wait long for the
results. «The work carried out by public organizations and the social
responsibility of business is driving Russias return to Africa in and of
itself. But we are overlooking one important thing: Russia is a global donor of aid for sustainable development. Last
year, Russia invested more than USD 800 million in humanitarian projects. This
year we allocated a billion. We are now part of a system in which we work
together with the World Banks trust funds and with the UN development
programme, where Russian money is diluted. If we are now going to return to
Africa, our colleagues must clearly understand that we are investing this money
in social development, enhancing human potential, and other projects. Our
return through such investments will be more visible and better perceived by
our African partners. We need to reformat money for bilateral formats in our
programmes so that it works through our graduates and our compatriots. These
are our human resources. And I am very grateful to those who have supported our
economic, trade, and humanitarian relations over these decades. The time has
come, and we are ready for this. Parliament is ready, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs is ready, and the development institutions are ready. The only thing
left to do is to start implementing specific projects», Morozov said.
«Public organizations and contacts at the
generally accessible level and not just the highest level are what makes
collaboration fully functional and pushes it from the plane of politics and
business to the social sphere. At the same time, Africa is very diverse and
multifaceted. In this situation, it may be important not to scatter efforts,
but to start concentrating on the most promising areas and operators, and then
build on the success we achieve», said Elena Marinina, Deputy CEO of the
Roscongress Foundation and Director of the Innosocium Foundation.
The RussiaAfrica
Summit and Economic Forum are being held on 2324 October at the Sirius Park
of Science and Art
in Sochi. The Roscongress Foundation is the event organizer, and the
co-organizers of the RussiaAfrica Economic Forum are Russian Export Center and
Afreximbank.
The Building Trust
Area programme was prepared by the Innosocium Foundation the social platform
of the Roscongress Foundation.