Russia will supply free grain to Africa if the grain deal is not extended in 60 days. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this in his speech at the International Parliamentary Conference “Russia-Africa in a multipolar world” at the House of Unions. The Head of State also expressed confidence that Africa will be one of the leaders of the emerging multipolar world order. And Russia has always accorded and will continue to accord priority to cooperation with the countries of the continent.
The parliamentary conference “Russia-Africa in a multipolar world” organized by the State Duma was attended by over 40 delegations from the African continent.
A key moment of the forum was Vladimir Putin’s speech. At the outset, the President recalled that since the heroic struggle of the peoples of Africa for their independence, the Soviet Union had provided significant support in these processes.
“It helped many African states to acquire and defend their sovereignty, consistently supported the establishment of statehood, strengthened their defence capabilities, created the foundations of the national economy and trained human resources,” Putin noted.
The President stressed that today the Russian Federation continues to follow the line of support and assistance to the continent. This applies to economy, politics, energy and technology. In particular, Vladimir Putin pointed out that Russia fulfils its obligations to supply products and fertilizers to Africa, but is being obstructed.
“You probably know that some of our frozen resources in European countries, including fertilizers, we are ready to transfer – the first shipments have already passed – to the countries in need free of charge. But, unfortunately, they put obstacles in our way here as well,” the head of state said.
He also added that in spite of all restrictions and limitations, almost 12 million tonnes of grain from Russia were sent to Africa.
The President once again pointed to the unfair distribution of exported Ukrainian grain under the product deal. “Of the total volume of grain exported from Ukraine, 45% went to European countries, and only 3% went to Africa,” the head of state stressed. And Russia insists on the package nature of the grain deal and on its full implementation.
“Guided primarily by the needs of African countries, Russia has recently agreed to prolong for another 60 days the agreement made in Istanbul across the Black Sea Ukrainian food and unblock Russian agricultural exports and supplies of fertilizers,” explained the Russian president.
Putin stressed that grain and fertilizers should go to needy African states and not to “well-fed European countries”.
The president also promised that Russia would supply Africa with grain free of charge if it decides not to extend the grain deal in 60 days.
“We are ready to supply the entire volume that has been sent in the previous time to particularly needy countries in Africa from Russia to those countries for free,” he said.
Africa also gets support from Russia through finance. For example, Vladimir Putin said that Russia has forgiven debts of over $ 20 billion to African countries.
Speaking about cooperation with African countries in various spheres, the President also pledged that Russia is ready to continue to help the countries of the continent in the production of electricity.
In particular, he recalled that Rosatom is already building a nuclear power plant in Egypt and plans to expand its involvement in the development of national energy systems in Africa. The president also assured that Russia is always ready to share its technologies. Putin gave the example of Angola where a satellite communications and TV broadcasting system is being built with Russian assistance. The President also mentioned Yandex, which is actively implementing in the African continent information services for passenger transport by taxi and other means of transport.
The Russian President is convinced that Africa will become one of the leaders of a multipolar world order.
“The states of Africa are constantly increasing their weight and role in world affairs, and are becoming more and more confident in politics and the economy. We are convinced that Africa will become one of the leaders of the multipolar world order that is taking shape, and there are all the objective prerequisites for this,” the President said.
Putin stressed that the Russian Federation and the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America oppose neo-colonial ideology and together constitute a global majority.
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