MOSCOW, July 22 Pressure on African countries has grown from the West, which is associated with a clear increase in their influence in world affairs, for many guests of the Russia-Africa summit «Arriving in our country today is a statement of one's firm position,» said Konstantin Kosachev, vice speaker of the Federation Council.
The Second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum will be held on July 27-28, 2023 in St. Petersburg. acts as an information partner of the event.
«The summit will be held in a completely different global environment compared to Sochi 2019, and therefore everything that will be said and accepted at it will inevitably attract special attention of the world. The West has sharply stepped up in the African direction, including» sticks and carrots «, including in order to maximally disrupt the ties of Africans with Russia,» the politician said.
According to Kosachev, for many of our guests, the very arrival in Russia today «is in some way a statement of one's firm position.»
“The pressure on African countries has objectively increased, but this is also due to a clear increase in their influence in world affairs. In addition, there are a number of hot topics that will be at the center of discussions at the summit and the forum — these are food supplies and overcoming the crisis,” the legislator believes. He also recalled African initiatives for a peaceful settlement of the conflict around Ukraine.
Kosachev considers it important following the results of the summit to continue the institutionalization of cooperation between Russia and African countries, both in multilateral and bilateral formats. He recalled that by the 1980s the Soviet Union had existing agreements on technical and economic cooperation with 37 out of 53 countries on the continent. «The real economic return from the agreements reached is also an important factor. Objectively, our influence in Africa far exceeds the economic foundation of cooperation,» the senator said.
According to the legislator, it is necessary to create sustainable economic ties that would have a noticeable effect on both sides, there are no obstacles for this. «In this regard, I expect that this time the effect will be greater than after the first Russia-Africa summit in 2019,» the parliamentarian said.
The senator also recalled that at the second international parliamentary conference Russia-Africa, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko proposed to raise the issue of compensation for damage to all African peoples who suffered from European oppressors during the colonial period. Kosachev expressed confidence that «Russia could support the African countries in setting up historical accounts for colonialism, for slavery, for outright genocide.»
According to the parliamentarian, the time has come to remind the world that the West openly plundered the rest of the world and, no less important, continues to do so today, but not in the form of slavery and extermination of the local population, but through international institutions controlled by it and other mechanisms to maintain global inequality. «I am sure that compensations to the former colonies from the former metropolises should not be in the form of voluntary humanitarian assistance, but in the form of long-term mandatory payments for previous robberies,» Kosachev emphasized.
The first Russia-Africa summit was held in Sochi in 2019, along with an economic forum. The forum was attended by heads of African states, representatives of Russian, African and international business and government agencies, as well as representatives of integration associations of the African continent.