News

Dmitry Medvedev Speaks at Opening of 26th Annual Afreximbank Shareholder Meeting

Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, friends,

It is my great pleasure to welcome participants of the Russia—Africa Conference and the General Meeting of Shareholders of the African Export-Import Bank — a leading regional financial institution. This is only the second time in its history that the bank has gathered shareholders from outside of Africa. So we are especially pleased to host such a significant event in Moscow. We’ve done our best to hold it and have even provided you with African weather.

Russia and Africa enjoy friendly relations, working relations and possess a solid historical foundation. With all due respect to the past, however, and it is necessary to remember the past, it is much more important that we look to the future, that we look forward. We must make plans together, and we must bring them to life. I am convinced that the new direction of Russian—African cooperation has been predetermined objectively. First and foremost, we speak of the transformation of the existing system of international relations and world trade.

Globalization and new technologies have shifted the centres of economic growth to developing economies, to developing countries. The number of active international players has increased. Competition between them has become keener. To preserve their position at the top, yesterday’s advocates of free trade now often use non-market methods of competition, from protectionism to trade wars. Hence the instability of commodity markets, global finance, the growth of debt burden and inequality — both economic and, of course, social, technological, and digital. All this you know very well.

We suggest looking for resolutions to these challenges together.

Source: http://government.ru/news/37113/

“We highly value the results of our joint work at the summit. I am sure the achieved results are creating a good foundation for further deepening the Russia-Africa partnership in the interests of our nations’ prosperity and wellbeing.”

President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin

The Russia–Africa Summit, which is taking place in Sochi on 23–24 October 2019, encapsulates the historically friendly relations between the African continent and the Russian Federation. This Summit carries great significance as it is the first of its kind to emerge during a period of major global and international transformations. In response to the aspirations of the people it is representing, the Summit intends to build a comprehensive framework for expanding Russian–African relations into broader horizons of joint cooperation across different fields.

The African nations and Russia share a common understanding of international relations, based on the principles of respect for the rule of international law, equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of states, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Both sides affirm their commitment to support multilateral actions to oppose new international threats, be they terrorism and extremism in all their forms, or declining growth rates. The two sides share a firm conviction regarding the importance of developing trade flows and supporting mutual investment in such a way as to ensure security, peace and development for the African and Russian people.

African countries have huge potential and opportunities that will allow them, once efforts to streamline their economies have been achieved, to emerge as real global players. In recent years, the nations of this continent have achieved major successes spanning the political, economic, social and administrative spheres. Africa has flourished in terms of growth over the past decade, reaching a continent-wide growth rate of 3.55% in 2018.

The African Union Summit, which was held in Niger in July 2019, continued the efforts of the African countries and saw the African Continental Free Trade Agreement come into force, along with its operational instruments. The agreement is one of the key objectives of Agenda 2063, an African development strategy that has been created to address the African people’s desire for prosperity and decent living standards.

These successes are opening up wide-ranging prospects for cooperation between African countries and the Russian Federation, and confirm the determination of African governments and their people to cooperate with multiple partners in order to establish mutually beneficial relations.

With this in mind, we express our hopes that the Russia–Africa Summit will help in the establishment of constructive strategic relations, based on partnership between two sides across various fields, and in the service of fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the African people and their friends in Russia.

President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdelfattah ALSISI