Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, said that his country has written off more than $20 billion in debts owed by African nations.
Putin claimed that trade between Russia and African nations is increasing every year and will reach about $18 billion in 2022 while speaking at an international parliamentary conference titled “Russia-Africa in a Multipolar World.”
“It is unlikely that such a figure can fully suit us, but we know that this is far from the limit,” he added.
Putin also said he believed that “the development of counter-commodity exchanges will be facilitated by a more energetic transition in financial settlements to national currencies, and the establishment of new transport and logistics chains.”
He further said: “Additional opportunities are opened up by the process of establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which began in 2021, which in the future will become a continental market with a total GDP of more than $3 trillion.”
He added that Africa would become one of the major players in the multipolar world and that Moscow supports establishing relations with the AfCFTA both through the Eurasian Economic Union and bilaterally.
“The states of Africa are constantly increasing their weight and their role in world affairs, they are asserting themselves more and more confidently in politics and in the economy. We are convinced that Africa will become one of the leaders in the emerging new multipolar world order,” Putin added.
He asserted that the neo-colonial philosophy is opposed by Russia and the nations of Africa, Asia, and South America.
“Russia and African countries uphold moral norms and social principles traditional for our peoples, and oppose neo-colonial ideology imposed from outside,” he said. “Many states of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America adhere to similar positions, and together we make up the world majority.”
