MOSCOW, March 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Pution announced that Moscow had written off debts of Africa states worth more than 20 Billion USD.
The Russian leader said this at the International Parliamentary Conference themed “Russia – Africa in a Multipolar World,” held in Moscow under the auspices of the State Duma of the Russian Federal Assembly.
“President Putin has written off $20bn of the Africa’s debts scholarships for the Africans at universities to double will supply food to African countries in need for free, even if the Grain Deal is not extended after 60 days,” noted Russian Embassy in Kenya
Putin said Russia has and will always consider cooperation with African states a priority and reiterated that Africa is one of the unchanging priorities of Russia’s foreign policy.
“I would like to stress that Russia is reliably fulfilling all its obligations pertaining to the supply of food, fertilisers, fuel and other products that are critically important to the countries of Africa, helping to ensure their food and energy security. You probably know that we are ready to supply some of the resources we have frozen in European countries to countries in need free of charge, including fertilisers; and the first batches have already been sent,” he told the African heads of states
Guided by the needs of African countries, Putin indicated that his administration has agreed to extend the agreement concluded in Istanbul on the export of Ukrainian food through the Black Sea and the unblocking of Russian agricultural exports and fertiliser supplies for another 60 days.
He said large Russian investment projects are being implemented in Africa, involving such domestic companies as Rosneft, Gazpromneft, RusHydro, ALROSA, Lukoil and many others and that Moscow will continue to help African countries with electricity production, which so far covers only a quarter of the continent’s needs.
“Today we are offering new environmentally friendly technologies, primarily in nuclear energy. Rosatom is already building a nuclear power plant in Egypt and plans to expand its involvement in the development of the national energy systems of the African continent. I would like to note that significant, in some countries 100-percent funding is provided by Russia. These are serious projects worth 15, 20 or 25 billion dollars,” he said
Putin further highlighted Russian-African cooperation in the field of high technologies which he noted is also being strengthened. He gave the example of Russia helping to create the ANGOSAT satellite communication and television broadcasting system in Angola. He said Yandex is actively introducing information services to organise the transportation of passengers by taxi and other modes of transport in African countries.
“Russia is always ready to share its technologies with African countries; it offers precisely joint, diverse technological development,” he said
At the same time, Putin says the annual quota for state-funded scholarships to African students at Russian universities will be more than doubled. He said cooperation between Russia and African countries in education is at a traditionally high level.
“Today about 27,000 African students are studying in Russia, including 5,000 whose education is covered by the federal budget. The project of the Russian-African Network University has entered its practical stage,” he said
According to Putin, Russia also intends to step up cooperation on medicine and healthcare, as well as ensuring biological and epidemiological safety. In order to do this, he said Russia is ready to transfer fully equipped mobile labs and modern medicines to Africans, and to train specialists.
He said Russia was among the first countries to provide African states with large volumes of vaccines during the coronavirus pandemic, including test kits, personal protective equipment, and other medical and humanitarian cargoes.
“Russia always lends a helping hand to African countries in relieving the devastating consequences of natural disasters: floods, fires, hurricanes and droughts. Cooperation in the fight against terrorism and extremism has seen significant progress in recent years,” he disclosed
Putin’s second Russia-Africa summit meeting with African heads of states and governments scheduled to be held in St Petersburg in July. — NNN-AGENCIES
