Valdai Club

Russia-Africa relations have become more substantive and regular over the past year, with development strategies, plans, roadmaps and summit meetings, that have become regular despite the challenges and plans for annual Russia-Africa ministerial conferences. The range of the key Russian actors in Africa has changed, the list of Russia’s privileged African partners has been expanded and Russia’s contribution to the sovereignty and development of African countries has become more substantial. A system of Russian-African relations is gradually taking shape from chaos, dissonance and competing initiatives.

Africa (with all the usual caveats about its diversity) sees Russia as primarily a promising trade partner and a guarantor of its food and energy security) and, generally a long-term reliable partner for development. At a new stage, after Russia’s withdrawal from the “Black Sea Grain Initiative”, it is necessary to attach greater importance to the preservation and expansion of humanitarian exports from Russia in the Russia-Africa format and on a bilateral basis, Andrey Maslov and Vsevolod Sviridov write.

So far, the major European corporations are better at negotiating between conflicting sides in Libya, thus taking advantage over their Chinese and US competitors. They pump the product across the frontline, ensure the security of their assets, work with the para-legitimate armed groups, and are skilled at distinguishing the fast changing shades of their legitimacy, writes Andrey Maslov, coordinator of the work on the Russia-Africa Shared Vision 2030 report, Intexpertise research network.