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The group of emerging BRICS countries seems to have entered into a new dynamic on the African continent. In June, Vladimir Putin at the last Brics summit said he was convinced of the role to be played by the Brics in the development of a “unifying and positive path towards the formation of a truly multipolar system”. In addition to a geostrategic interest in the context of the war in Ukraine, the Brics also have economic interests and influence.
Africa and Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), towards a new dynamic, Senegal, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast. The Russian president of the Brics, Larissa Zelentsova went to meet different actors on the continent those last weeks. At the same time, the creation of a post of representative of the BRICS for West Africa and Central Africa is formalized, headed by theIvorian Ahoua Don Mello. It highlights the priorities established…
« First of all, the infrastructure projects, these are projects in the Agenda 2063 of the African Union as a priority, and also the projects that we negotiate directly with the target countries chosen for the first actions. And these are really the major interconnection infrastructure projects between African states. This concerns highways, roads, railways, telecommunications, energy and all other related services”.
If the share of Russian investments on the continent, compared to other players, are today on the margins, Russia intends to catch up, says the representative of the Brics, also a consultant for Russian employers. ” Obviously China is the heavyweight. There is no doubt about that and we must do so that all the BRICS countries increase their interventions in Africa so that we can catch up very quickly in terms of investment in infrastructure and industry. »
But Chinese and Russian action on the continent is often criticized. Their detractors speak of the chinese debt trap », or the plundering of African minerals. For Julien Vercueil, economist at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilization, action via the Brics makes it possible to defuse these incriminations.
« The BRICS are a way for them to circumvent the difficulties they may encounter individually in their approach to certain countries. Then, of course, Russia has every interest in pushing the influence of the Brics in Africa because it reflects on its own influence. But the idea is really to try to show that we are in favor of a form of multipolarity and not that Russia on the one hand or China wish to counterbalance the United States on their own and then largely to the countries Westerners. »
The Brics have their own development bank for this, which aims to be an alternative counter. However, it remains very constrained by its resources and its obligations vis-à-vis international markets.
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