2023-07-27 18:25:00
DISPATCH — Vladimir Putin opened the second Russia-Africa summit, organized in Saint Petersburg, on Thursday July 27, by promising to deliver free cereals to six African countries. It is thus seeking to strengthen its relations with Africa, by ensuring that it can make up for the lack of Ukrainian exports.
On July 17, the Russian president put an end to a cereal agreement signed under the aegis of the United Nations and Turkey a year earlier, which allowed Ukraine to continue exporting its cereals across the sea. Black despite the war. “None of the conditions of the agreement concerning Russian deliveries of cereals and fertilizers have been fulfilled,” he denounced, accusing Western countries of blocking Russian deliveries.
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Today, he assures African countries that Moscow will be able “in the coming months” to deliver up to 50,000 tonnes of cereals free of charge to six countries: Zimbabwe, Somalia, Eritrea, Mali, the Central African Republic and Burkina Faso. Faso.
“Our country can replace Ukrainian cereals commercially, but also in terms of (humanitarian deliveries) free of charge,” he said, affirming that Russia was a “solid and responsible” producer. In addition, Russia said it was ready to export its cereals “free of charge” to countries in need.
For Moscow and its partners, “it is necessary to find common ground, to explain ourselves (…) on current issues, for example on the cereal agreement”, underlined with AFP Vsevolod Sviridov, expert at the Center for African Studies at the Moscow University of Economics.
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In general, “the framework in which Russia and Africa interact has profoundly changed”, he observes: “So, obviously, we must redefine (these) relations”.
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