How are Russian companies operating in Africa in the new geopolitical environment? To what extent is Russia willing to cooperate with African countries in such promising areas as digital technologies and peaceful nuclear energy? What has changed in the work of a diplomat over half a century? We spoke to Mikhail Bogdanov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia.

–Mikhail Leonidovich, in connection with the intensification of our country’s foreign policy course towards Africa, how quickly will we be able to achieve the set pace, and what will it depend on?

–In fact, the pace has already picked up and, in my opinion, it is quite impressive: in the last five years, two full-scale summits and as many parliamentary conferences have been held in the Russian-African space, the Action Plan of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum for 2023-2026 has been adopted, the first Russian-African conference of foreign ministers is being prepared, a number of bilateral and multilateral documents on high-level cooperation have been signed, trade turnover is growing, and the number of African students studying in our country is increasing.

The extent to which we will be able to maintain – and preferably increase – this momentum will depend on many factors, but above all on the political will of the parties, the creativity and tenacity of the business community, and the enthusiasm of the public. And – last but not least – on external factors, which are not always favourable: it is enough to recall the coronavirus pandemic, which recently seriously slowed down the dynamic development of Russian-African relations. Nevertheless, we at the Russian Foreign Ministry are optimistic, and we see the same spirit in our partners.

–In your opinion, what are the main results of last year’s Russia-Africa Summit for the participating countries in the political, economic and humanitarian spheres?

– The Second Russia-Africa Summit, held in St. Petersburg on 27-29 July last year, demonstrated the participants’ firm commitment to further strengthening cooperation, making it strategic and focusing on effective solutions to the priority tasks of our partnership. We confirmed the fundamental convergence of our approaches to building a fairer world order based on equality and the principles of international law.

At the same time, Russia’s priority is to support the strengthening of the sovereignty of African states and to ensure the national security of the continent’s states. Progress in these areas, taking into account the cultural and historical peculiarities of African countries, as opposed to the Western policy of neo-colonialism, became a transversal idea of the St. Petersburg Summit, a doctrinal consolidation of our common attitude towards the continent as an emerging centre of a multipolar world.

Within the framework of the Summit and in accordance with its results, agreements were reached on the whole spectrum of Russian-African cooperation........

© New Eastern Outlook