Vladimir Putin takes part in the Russia–Africa Economic Forum in Sochi, presidential web page reports.
Addressing the Forum’s plenary session on Wednesday, Putin noted that ”Russia-Africa trade more than doubled over the past five years and exceeded $20 bln. Notably, the product range is expanding, and the share of non-resource – agricultural and industrial – products is increasing. Russia is among the top ten suppliers of food to the African market. We are now exporting more agricultural products than weapons to the markets of third countries. Weapons account for $15 bln of our exports, whereas agricultural products are nearing $25 bln in sales.”
“Gazprom, Rosneft, and LUKOIL are implementing promising oil and gas projects on the continent,” he said. “ALROSA is developing diamond deposits, Yandex is present on the markets of a number of countries, and helps African states address information security challenges and develop the digital economy. Rosatom is willing to build the nuclear industry for its African partners as a turnkey project and to build research centers based on multipurpose reactors. The construction of the Russian Industrial Zone in Egypt is nearing completion. This is a major site in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, where Russian companies will be able to localize their production facilities. About 20 Russian companies will participate in this project.”