Moscow Hosts Discussion on Trade and Economic Relations between Russia and Africa

The Afreximbank Strategy for Export Trading Companies was launched in Moscow during the open Russia—Africa Economic Conference, part of the Afreximbank Annual Meetings with the support of the Roscongress Foundation and Russian Export Center. The panellists included Managing Director of Afreximbank’s Intra-African Trade Initiative KanayoAwani and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt Gamal Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Negm. One of the key focal points of the discussion at the event was the strengthening of trade and economic relations between Russia and Africa.

Experts predict that the trade turnover between Russia and Africa will double in the next three years. Last year, their total export volume grew by 18% and reached USD 17.5 billion. At the same time, the volume of non-energy non-commodity exports grew to USD 14.3 billion. Egypt, the Republic of South Africa, Zambia, Angola, Algeria, Nigeria, and Kenya are key African consumers of Russian non-commodity exports.

«The African continent currently has enormous potential as a sales market. Many African countries are enacting economic reforms, demand is growing for high-quality, competitive products. Russian businesses are interested in this niche, and our goods are already competitive in terms of price and quality. We plan to increase export volumes in the next few years», said Andrey Slepnev, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Export Center (REC).

A Russian Industrial Zone is currently being built in Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone. This is the first such infrastructure megaproject launched by the Russian Export Center (part of VEB.RU). «Residents of the industrial zone will have several key advantages: proximity to vital transport canals, a number of trade agreements with Egypt, maximally simplified business regulations, and a single point of contact for solving any problems or addressing any issues. In the next five years, this 525-hectare area will be transformed into a comprehensive industrial park for Russian companies. In the future, the Russian Industrial Zone will serve as an outpost for promoting Russian goods and services in Africa», said Andrey Slepnev, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Export Center.

“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