Africa - Russia: towards win-win partnerships [Focus]

48 hours within which to re-define strategic relations between the African continent and Russia?

This is the ambitious objective of the Russia-Africa Summit held in Sochi on 23 and 24 October.

The very first edition was co-chaired by President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart, President Abdel Fattah Al-sissi, who doubles as the current president of the African Union.

Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the need to intensify trade relations between Russia and Africa, before over 40 African heads of state gathered and thousands of participants.

President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita from Mali believes there is a new deal, a new era, by which everything is being rethought… it is therefore a new sign of cooperation that is resuming with Russia in all areas.

Beyond the traditional military, Mali, like other African countries, relies on Russian expertise to develop other sectors.

“We have very good mining reserves, we produced 66 tons of gold last year and we know that the possibilities are much greater than that. The third sector is agro-industry, where we also have very significant potential and for which we want to attract many more Russian investors”, said Safia Boly, minister in charge of promoting private investments.