26.12.2019 Author: Dmitry Bokarev
Column: Politics
Region: Africa
The Russia-Africa Summit and
Economic Forum, held in Sochi (in the Russian Federation) from 23 to 24 October
2019, became an important milestone on the path of the development of the
Russia-Africa relationship. All the leaders of African nations (that are
recognized by the United Nations) as well as representatives of Africa’s
international organizations received invitations to this event. It was
co-chaired by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah el‑Sisi. Agreements on cooperation in foreign policy,
security and various economic spheres were reached at the summit.
Russia is determined to
return to Africa in full measure and re-establish ties with the region that had
existed since the Soviet Union era. However, too much time has passed since
those days, and the Russian Federation has a long journey ahead of it if it
wishes to restore its cooperation with Africa to Soviet levels and become one
of the continent’s main partners. The memory of friendly ties that existed
between the USSR and Africa, and of the help extended by the Soviet Union to
all African nations (who wished to become independent) in their battle against
colonialism and nation building efforts is still alive today and will enable
the Russian Federation to find a common language with its African partners.
However, all the practical aspects of cooperation will need to be worked on
from scratch.
Typically, the establishment
of ties between nations begins with trade.
Over the past decades, there has
been a certain volume of trade between the Russian Federation and African
nations. However, this trade turnover remained relatively low. During the last
decade, it began to grow gradually. From 2010 to 2018, the Russia-Africa trade
turnover rose more than two-fold: from US$ 9.9 billion to US$ 20.4 billion.
What is noteworthy is that the pace of this growth increased substantially in
recent years, starting in 2016, with the biggest trade volumes reached in 2018
(there are no results as yet for 2019). From 2016 to 2018, Egypt, Morocco and
Algiers remained Russia’s key partners. At the same time, the trade turnover
between the Russian Federation and nations to the south of the Sahara Desert
was only US$ 4 billion.
The Russian Federation
mainly supplies its African partners with food and agricultural raw materials
(such as wheat and maslin); land transport vehicles; aerial vehicles and ships;
equipment and machines; oil and refined petroleum goods, and metals and
products made of metal.
In turn, Russia imports
fruit, vegetables, cocoa, tea, tobacco raw materials, clothes, shoes and
natural resources from Africa.
According to representatives
of Russia’s government and businesses, the Russia-Africa Summit became a
pivotal event for the Russian Federation and its African partners. The Russian
leadership showed its nation’s business circles that its constructive African
initiatives were able to receive support at the highest levels. African
businessmen, in turn, saw that the Russian market was open to them. In order to
discuss the future of the cooperation in more details, representatives of
Russian and African businesses met at the Russia-Africa Economic Forum, held in
Sochi during the same time as the Summit.
Unfortunately, just as
several decades ago, Africa’s key problem remains lack of food. The population
on the continent keeps growing rapidly but the extent of agricultural
development cannot ensure that there is food for everyone. Hence, quite
naturally, the substantial growth in trade between Africa and Russia ought to
be accounted for by increased supplies of food and agricultural products.
Participants of the
Russia-Africa Economic Forum included Sergey Levin, the Russian Federation’s
Deputy Minister for Agriculture. He said that the plan was for Russia’s
agribusiness to double its exports of agricultural products to Africa with the
aim of reaching volumes worth more than US$ 5 billion.
Krasnodar Krai and Rostov
Oblast are to play a key role in this initiative. Since they are located in the
south of the Russian Federation, the warm climate they enjoy ensures that they
are among the top 3 regions in the nation in terms of agricultural production.
Food will be manufactured there and exported to the African continent via their
ports.
As mentioned earlier, the
nations of North Africa are Russian Federation’s main partners. It is,
therefore, important for Russia to increase its exports to other parts of the
continent. According to Sergey Levin, the Russian Federation may satisfy the
existing needs of African countries and supply them not only with grain
(traditionally, a key commodity exported) but also sunflower seed oil, fowl and
confectionery. Still, grain remains the main product traded. It is
strategically important for preventing hunger, and the quality of Russian grain
is top-notch, globally.
Another strategically
important product is vegetable oil. It is also a crucial export for the Russian
Federation and a point of pride. During the Forum in Sochi, the EFKO Group (one
of Russia’s largest producers of vegetable oil) signed an agreement with United
Oil (one of the biggest oil and fat businesses in Egypt) on the construction of
a joint facility in Egypt. The factory will be built near Cairo. The
signatories to the contract expect it to become the largest manufacturer of
vegetable oil and edible fat in North Africa. And, in the future, its products
will be delivered to all of Egypt’s neighboring African countries as well as to
the Middle East and South of Europe.
The construction of such a
facility should stimulate Egypt’s agricultural sector since it is more
profitable to produce oil from raw materials sourced from nearby regions.
Perhaps, this initiative is far more attractive for Egypt and the whole of
Africa than simply deliveries of food because it could help the residents of
this continent to master the technologies for manufacturing needed products.
There is another similar
project to involve local residents in food production and to educate them about
this sector. Russian experts are already working on this initiative in
Ethiopia. The Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of
Sciences conducted some research on Ethiopia’s Lake Tana, and its staff are now
preparing a scheme for breeding fish commercially in this water body. In the
future, the plan is to revive the fish population in all of the nation’s bodies
of water, which was almost completely decimated by the locals who engaged in
unsustainable fishing practices. The participants of the project expect it to
supply enough fish to meet the internal needs of the Ethiopian market and to
even produce a surplus that can be exported to neighboring countries by as
early as 2021.
It seems that Russia’s
renewed involvement in the African content is off to a good start. The Russian
Federation could help the nations of Africa rid themselves of their key problem
– hunger. Supplying Africa with food and developing its agricultural sector are
probably the best options that Russia could offer to the continent. And it is a
positive development that the Russian Federation chose to begin its return to
Africa in this manner.
Dmitry Bokarev,
political observer, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
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