MOSCOW, Mar 19 Russia ready to help countries Africa in strengthening security and sovereignty, said Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, head of the secretariat of the Russia-Africa conference.
«Africa is preparing for a completely new stage in its development, where two processes will be combined: the strengthening of national sovereignty — and here Russia is fully on the side of our African friends, because we are interested in each country having an independent voice, not submitting to outside dictates and independently developing our line in the international arena… We have a common interest, primarily in terms of security,» he said during the Russia-Africa parliamentary conference.
«The second dimension of security is the strengthening of integration processes within the continent… We are convinced that these two processes will lead to Africa becoming a powerful pole of power in the international arena,» the ambassador added.
Ozerov noted that Africa has always been a reliable friend for Russia, therefore Moscow is interested in building equal relations with the countries of the continent both in terms of security and economic issues.
«Issues of combating international terrorism, where we fully support African countries… Food security, where Russia has strong trump cards… We are ready to help African countries not only meet their needs through grain imports, but also develop yours own competencies,» he added.
Ozerov stressed that the areas of biological safety and climate threats are also important.
«Numerous challenges are facing African countries, and Russia has its own answers to these challenges. Finally, this is the issue of biological threats, the United States and its partners are creating biolaboratories all over the world, including on the African continent» the ambassador said.
Ozerov added that Russia expects representatives of all countries at the Russia-Africa summit to be held in St. Petersburg in July.
The second international parliamentary conference «Russia — Africa» is being held in Moscow on March 19-20. The conference is attended by representatives of the scientific, educational and expert communities from Russia and African countries, deputies of the State Duma, heads of federal executive bodies, senators of the Federation Council, chairmen of the legislative bodies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, representatives of the business community. More than 40 delegations from most African countries take part in the conference.