Amidst Western pressure on many African countries, the second Russia – Africa Summit held in St. Petersburg at the end of last was successful, says, Russian Ambassador to Ethiopia.
Briefing journalists at the embassy on Wednesday, Ambassador Evgeny Terekhin said that the two sides have developed a 15 pages action plan on different sectors for the period 2023-2026. The major components of the action plan include political and security cooperation, economic cooperation involving boosting trade and investment that includes the use of local currencies for transaction.
The action plan also includes strengthening cooperation on agriculture, energy, industry, extraction and beneficiation of mineral resources. Sharing best practices on transportation sector and strengthening institutional ties is also one of the areas mentioned in the action plan.
In addition, engagement and collaborations in the information, communications technologies, science, innovations tourism, social, cultural, environment, climate change and biodiversity are also included in the three years the action plan developed during the second Russia – Africa Summit. The broad action plan also involves collaboration in the areas of education, sport, youth exchange, mass media, among others.
The action plan shall be implemented by relevant ministries, institutions and structures with regular implementation reviews, according to the action plan document distributed to the media. “Separate bilateral and multilateral roadmaps, programs and projects in the areas of mutual interest shall be elaborated and carried out in order to ensure implementation of the action plan,” the document stated.
“The Russia – Africa Partnership Forum Secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation shall coordinate the implementation of the provisions of the action plan,” it said.
It is recalled that the second Russia – Africa economic and humanitarian Summit was held from July 27-28 2023 in St. Petersburg, Russia, with the attendance of around 17 heads of African states including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Eritrea, and Burkina Faso, among others.
Due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Western countries have been pressuring on African countries’ leaders not to attend the second Russia-Africa summit, according to Ambassador Evgeny Terekhin. The Western countries have also been pressuring African countries to condemn Russia for invading Ukraine.