On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, where delegations from 48 countries will discuss cooperation, defense and technology topics for two days.
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Representatives of regional organizations, such as the African Union and the African Continental Free Trade Area, are also present at the Moscow meeting.
The summit will have two plenary sessions, after which participants will adopt a final declaration outlining the agreed approaches for the development of Russian-African cooperation and the deepening of collaboration in the international sphere.
They will also approve a declaration on cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and an action plan for the Russia-Africa Cooperation Forum for the years 2027-2029.
At the end of the event, Putin and Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye, in his capacity as the current head of the African Union, will offer statements to the media to summarize the results of the summit.
Putin Denounces Western Colonialism
During his intervention at the summit, Putin denounced Western colonialism in Africa and promised to increase grain supplies to the continent.
“We are observing active attempts by Western countries to once again plunge Africans into debt, imposing on them much-needed financial resources under abusive conditions, subsequently forcing them to overpay far beyond the debt to the detriment of their long-term development plans,” he said in the plenary session.
According to the Kremlin chief, the multipolar world is a reality, but not everyone is willing to accept it. “We are witnessing how the multipolar world is becoming a reality and this trend is objective and irreversible,” he asserted.
He also drew the attention of those present to Africa’s “new awakening” with the strengthening of its countries’ sovereignty and the increase of their prestige on the world stage.
Russia develops its relations with African countries on the principles of “equality and friendship” and is willing to expand aid to the continent, said Putin, who stressed that “more than 40 African countries already receive Russian fertilizers and cereals, and we are ready to further expand the geographic scope of our agricultural exports.”
In the first nine months of 2026, Moscow exported 13 million tons of agricultural products to Africa. “For some countries, shipment volumes have multiplied several times, not only in percentage, but in absolute terms,” Putin stated.
He also mentioned that exports of African agricultural products to Russia cover 8% of the needs of the Russian market and “this figure must grow and it will.”
The Russian leader placed special emphasis on humanitarian contacts, highlighting the growing number of students at Russian universities, and called on African airlines to begin operating flights to Russia.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
