International Report: The Russia-Africa Summit highlights the growing importance of the African continent for Russian foreign policy
International Report: The “Russian-African” summit highlights the growing importance of the African continent for Russian foreign policy.
An international report confirmed that the “Russian-African” summit highlighted the growing importance of the African continent for Russian foreign policy.
The international newspaper “The Conversation” expected that the Russian-African summit, which is scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg in late July, will witness a large presence of African heads of state comparable to that of the 2019 summit, in which more than 40 African heads of state participated along with thousands of attendees.
The report stated that nearly 43 African heads of state attended the 2019 Russia-Africa Summit, where they had high hopes that Russia would emerge as a new source of investment and trade for the continent, after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to double Russian trade with Africa, within five years, to $40 billion.
The newspaper added that any trade deals that may be announced during the upcoming summit will bring political benefits to Moscow, as it is an opportunity to show that Russia is not an outcast, especially in the wake of Moscow’s announcement of the termination of an agreement to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea.
And she continued: “Africa provides Russia with a global stage through which Moscow can blow its geostrategic position. Africa matters to Russia more than Russia cares about Africa.”
She explained that the summit highlights the growing importance of Africa to Russian foreign policy, as Africa remains the continent most welcoming to Russian participation, noting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has made at least eight visits to Africa since the start of the Russian military operation in 2022.
