News

Developing Cooperation with South Africa

In Moscow the Roscongress Foundation met with a delegation formed by the South African United Business Confederation. The delegation included Confederation President George Sebulela, the head of the Middle East and Africa branch of the World Harmony Foundation Ariel Huang, and Chairman of the Hong Kong Far East Export-Import Company Wang Jincang.

A significant part of the agenda was devoted to energy issues. The parties discussed the events of the forthcoming Russian Energy Week which will be held on 12–14 October in Moscow, as well as participation in the renewable energy forum scheduled for 2023. The parties discussed the opportunities stemming from the exhibition part of the forums.

“Cooperation with our partners in China and South Africa is traditionally given special emphasis. We see great interest on the part of investors, representatives of the business and expert community, as well as officials of these countries. The parties are open to dialogue, and I am confident that the plans outlined during the meeting will be successfully implemented with significant efforts on both sides,” said Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation.

It is expected that a delegation from South African United Business Confederation will take part in Russian Energy Week 2022. “The meeting that took place between representatives of our organization and the Roscongress Foundation in Moscow was extremely productive. We outlined the prospects for cooperation in key areas and charted a plan of action for the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding that we signed,” said South African United Business Confederation President George Sebulela.

During the exchange of views the participants discussed the possibility of holding a visiting session of the Russia–Africa Economic Forum in South Africa, as well as the organization of business missions of Russian companies in South Africa.

“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