OREANDA-NEWS. December 23, 2008. The outgoing year, as is known, has brought difficult ordeals for all countries of the world. The incipient global financial crisis has affected all states without exception, dealt a tangible blow to the stability of the world economic system and had serious adverse effects on the situation of developing, including sub-Saharan African countries.

Despite these negative trends, work on strengthening the traditionally friendly relations with the states of the African continent has remained one of the important components of Russian foreign policy. Moreover, the need for continued diversification of foreign ties in contemporary conditions increases. Russia is interested in developing many-sided cooperation with the countries of Africa, which we regard as not only good, time-tested, but also as very promising partners.

Priority attention has been paid to intensifying the Russian-African dialogue and agreeing our positions on the key aspects of the international agenda, including the issues of promoting strategic stability, constructing a multipolar world, strengthening the central UN role, and countering the new challenges and threats, primarily terrorism and extremism.

An important role has been allotted to regular contacts with top leaders of African states. The objective of advancing our dialogue with the continent’s community is confirmed in the renovated version of the Russian Federation Foreign Policy Concept, approved by the President of Russia on July 12, 2008; it is also reflected in Dmitry Medvedev’s address to the Federal Assembly and became the subject of discussion in the ambassadors’ meeting at the Russian MFA this past July.

A number of principled accords on promoting our many-sided cooperation with Africa were reached as Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov made a trip to South Africa and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Senegal for the OIC summit and had contacts with heads of foreign affairs agencies of African countries in Moscow and New York. There were useful practical benefits in the Moscow visits of ministers of foreign affairs from South Africa and Kenya, leaders of the foreign affairs agencies of Cameroon, Gabon, Madagascar and other officials from a number of African states.

Steps to strengthen links with the African Union (AU) and sub-regional integrative associations were taken. Useful was the participation of Russian delegations led by Alexei Vasiliev, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Relations with African Leaders, in the work of AU summits. The scheduled 2009 Moscow visit by AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping will undoubtedly contribute to the further advancement of dialogue with the African Union and reinvigoration of our cooperation on the broadest spectrum of issues.

Inter-parliamentary links made an important contribution to the further development of Russian-African relations. The visits to our country by parliamentarians from Gabon, DR Congo, Zambia, Madagascar, and South Africa constituted a noticeable event.

Religious organizations’ ties received a new impetus. The visit to Angola, Namibia and South Africa by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad served to strengthen the positions of the Russian Orthodox Church in African countries and to develop interfaith links.

The contacts held facilitated expanding the “geography” of our interaction with Africa, and solving a number of specific issues in bilateral cooperation, both with large and with small states of the continent. Among our principal partners are Angola, Guinea, Namibia, Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa. There are quite good prospects for the advancement of cooperation with DR Congo, Gabon, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali and other countries.

Despite the unfavorable tendencies linked to the global economic and financial crisis, purposeful work was conducted to reinvigorate economic and trade cooperation with the countries of Africa, whose current level we think does not yet match the available considerable potential. Great significance was attached to raising the effectiveness of the activities of bilateral intergovernmental commissions (IGCs) in this context.

Considerable reserves lie in the promotion of direct economic ties between representatives of small and medium-sized business, including under the auspices of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Fresh examples are the understanding reached during the visit of a delegation of entrepreneurs from St. Petersburg to major South African cities on the conclusion of a cooperation agreement between St. Petersburg and Johannesburg, and the study of the possibility of establishing twin-city relations between Krasnodar Territory and the South African province of Kwazulu Natal.

Assistance to the expansion of activities of Russian business circles is one of the major components of our foreign policy, including on the African continent. The Russian Foreign Ministry continued providing necessary politico-diplomatic follow-up for the activities in Africa of such leading Russian companies as Alrosa, Gazprom, Lukoil, Rusal, Renova, Gammakhim, Technopromexport, and VEB and VTB banks, which are engaged in large-scale investment projects on the continent. Positive dynamics are evident in the development of Russian-African cooperation in the minerals & raw materials, infrastructure, energy and other spheres, which has helped create conditions in the region for the successful tackling of the socioeconomic problems facing it.

The first, but important steps are being taken to develop cooperation with African countries in the realm of high technologies (nuclear energy, astrophysics, exploration and development of outer space for peaceful purposes). They appear to have a great future.

We note with satisfaction the obvious trend for trade to grow between Russia and the sub-Saharan African countries, which in the first ten months of 2008 surpassed the relevant period of last year by 30%, amounting to 1.9 billion dollars. At the same time it has to be stated that economic cooperation with African countries still encountered a number of difficulties due to, inter alia, from insufficient information available to Russian and African partners about mutual possibilities and requirements. Yet it is undoubted that these are “growing pains,” the complexities of a practical nature which can be overcome by joint efforts. Much has to be done to ensure that Russian cooperation with African states continues to develop along an ascending line. All the necessary conditions exist for that.

Mention should also be made of such an important area of diplomatic work as the protection of the lawful rights and interests of compatriots who are resident or on a temporary stay in the region’s countries and the provision of necessary assistance to them. Of special concern in this context is the growing number of acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, whose victims Russian citizens also become.

The Russian Foreign Ministry actively joined international efforts to combat piracy in this region. At present the Russian destroyer Neustrashimy is on operational duty off the shores of Somalia. On the basis of UNSC resolution 1846, which has created a more clearly defined international legal base for combating this evil, the possibility is being studied of sending additional Russian Navy forces to that region.

One of the main components of the African vector of Russian foreign policy is active participation in the coordinated steps of the international community to provide comprehensive assistance to the continent. For the purpose of the intensification of the war on poverty and the achievement by African countries of the UN Millennium Development Goals, at the International Conference on Financing for Development held in Doha in December 2008, we proposed a number of measures to stabilize the situation in African countries and minimize the adverse consequences of the present financial crisis.

It is, first of all, about the fulfillment of the pledges already made by the donor community to provide aid and additional financial resources to the countries worst hit by the crisis; about assistance in the elaboration and realization of a macroeconomic and fiscal policy with a view to making more effective use of both internal and attracted resources; about the removal of barriers in the path of movement of goods and services from African countries; and about consideration of the interests of African countries in the process of the elaboration of decisions to reform the international financial system by increasing their representation and stepping up their participation in activities of international institutions.

In accordance with the presidentially approved Concept of participation by our country in international development assistance (IDA), measures are currently being taken to create a national IDA system. It can be noted with confidence that we have achieved significant progress in this endeavor. The level of provided aid was raised from 50 million dollars in 2003 to 210 million dollars in 2007 – not counting written-off debts, in the amount of which Russia holds one of the leading places among the G8 countries. Russia has by now canceled debts of African countries amounting to 20 billion dollars. Negotiations are being conducted with Benin, Guinea, Zambia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Ethiopia to write-off their debts in the amount of more than half a billion dollars.

Russia has stepped up its participation in realizing international initiatives and crafting new approaches and mechanisms for development assistance. We have committed ourselves to provide more than 1 billion dollars in aid to the poorest, including African, countries, during the period to 2010-2011 to fight infectious diseases, “energy poverty” and to bolster education, of which amount more than half has already been allocated. We are actively involved in international efforts to provide humanitarian aid to African states, particularly under the auspices of the United Nations World Food Program, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other entities. Our donor contributions are being used to provide food and humanitarian aid to Guinea, DR Congo, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Despite the world economic and financial crisis, which has also affected Russia, we are not reneging on our obligations to render support to developing, including African, countries and are planning to bring up the volume of our aid to 400-500 million dollars a year in the near future.

One more important thrust of the “African vector” is political work in the UN on assistance to Africa’s development and on strengthening peace and security in Africa. A landmark stage in collective efforts in this field was the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly on Africa’s development needs held this past September.

Russia continues to participate actively not only in developing a strategy to resolve particular armed conflicts and in determining the mandates for the appropriate peacekeeping operations in the region, but also in “practical peacekeeping” on the continent. Russian troops and policemen (about 230) are involved in all UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Western Sahara, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sudan. In 2008 Russia joined the European Union’s peacekeeping operation in Chad and CAR. The transfer of a Russian military contingent (120 troops with 4 military transport helicopters) to Ndjamena has been practically completed.

Our assistance in the training of African peacekeepers has been built up. Hundreds of Russian-trained civilian policemen and law enforcement officers from African countries are already serving in hot spots, making their important contribution to the maintenance of peace and security on the continent.

One cannot fail to note the significant contribution of Russia to the collective efforts of the Group of Eight in providing assistance to Africa. The Russian side has been consistently implementing all the G8 accords on African problems, including those reached at the last summit in Hokkaido. Russian entrepreneurs actively participated in the discussion of the continent’s problems during the meetings of the Group of the G8 Leaders’ Personal Representatives on Africa and in the format of the “enlarged dialogue” – the Africa Partnership Forum.

The principled line in support of Africa, which is going to be continued, has helped to tackle tasks in ensuring global stability and in creating more favorable conditions for developing fruitful interaction with African countries. The first consideration now is by relying upon the amassed experience and acting hand-in-hand to work towards a fuller unfolding of the cooperation potential in the interests of our states and peoples.