Director of the Fruit Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Irina Olegovna Abramova. Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS photo host agency
Limiting, against its will, relations with the West, Russia is looking for new partners not only in the East, but also where it left at its own discretion – to the favorites. How cooperation with Moscow is perceived on the “black continent” and what it can give us – the director of the Institute of Fruits of the Russian Academy of Sciences told KP about this Irina Olegovna Abramova.
Sympathy for us – since Soviet times
– Why do the vast majority of African countries do not support the anti-Russian sanctions of the West and remain neutral in the conflict in Ukraine?
– First of all, this is the attitude towards African countries towards Russia, which has remained since Soviet times, because it was the Soviet Union that fought against all manifestations of colonialism and sought a meeting of the sovereignty of these countries – in 1960, on its initiative, the UN adopted the Declaration of Independence to Colonial Countries and peoples. By the way, all Western states – former colonizers (Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain), as well as the USA, Australia, the Dominican Republic and the Union of South Africa – abstained from the vote, that is, according to the sermon, they rebelled against. And today’s events in Ukraine are perceived by many Africans as Russia’s arrival in a semi-colony of the West.
But this is not the only reason that African countries have taken up, let’s say, a neutral illusion in connection with the events in Ukraine. The fact is that in 2019 the first Russia-Africa summit was held, where Russia stated that it was completely certain that it was going to return to Africa. Our institute actively participated in the production of the summit and was held in parallel with it in the economic forum. African participants paid special attention to cooperation with the Russian Federation on all scales – political, economic, military and humanitarian. First of all, this is due to the fact that Russia meets many countries as a guarantor of its international and economic sovereignties, and as a new player, ensuring their interests in building relations both with meetings of participants (EU and USA) and with invited participants (China ). , India, Brazil, Turkey and Arab countries).
True, judging by the higher sentiment, African countries support attacks on attacks in Russia. In the days of the Soviet Union, almost all of them always unanimously voted in the UN in the same way as the USSR voted. Only Eritrea voted against. Egypt, which signed and expects an agreement on friendship and strategic partnership with our facilities last year, supported the US resolution. But, despite the strongest pressure, out of 54 African countries in the UN on the anti-Russian association, 26 either held, or, as abstained, voted against, or did not participate in the vote. And most of them will not join the economic sanctions against us. But everything, of course, depends on how Russia finishes the military capacity.
Is China not a comrade on a trip to us?
– A country that is part of the European Community – China. Will we clash with him “foreheads” when considering the restoration of our former positions on this continent?
– China has come to those positions that the Soviet Union once left – a holy place is never empty. The USSR made huge investments in Africa. We deal with 300 large industrial enterprises. And we threw it all away. For China, Africa is primarily a source of raw materials; this continent is one of the most important in the world in terms of its resource wealth. This is not only fuel and energy potential, despite the fact that Africa accounts for 13-14 percent of the world’s reserves. Today it has become a very important supplier of hydrocarbons in China. But the Chinese are also developing other types of raw materials there, primarily metals, which are necessary for high-tech industries, including the defense industry. The second is, of course, the sales market, because the African population is now growing at a very high rate, a middle class is rapidly emerging, which is characterized by an increased demand for many goods. According to experts, by 2050 the highest growth rates of the middle class will be on the way. Africa as a very large potential market.
– And what positions does Russia have on the way now and how can they be developed?
– Now they are incomparable with the Chinese. Take, for example, the trade turnover from the countries of the continent. In China, it averages $200 billion a year. Our trade with Africa peaked in 2018 – $20.4 billion. I think this year also shows good results, about $15-16 billion. At the Russia-Africa Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that trade with Africa should be at least doubled in the coming years. So far this issue has not been resolved.
Of course, we cannot compete with China now. But we have a very good trump card. The fact is that China, while conducting really powerful investment and credit protection on the continent, has an impact there not like charity. In Africa, discontent among the Chinese is gradually growing. For example, financial assistance, loans, and the provision of Beijing are not always beneficial for Africans and, as a rule, are used to purchase Chinese goods and technologies. In addition, China brings its food power to Africa. And for Africans, who have a fairly high level of assessment, especially among young people, this is not very interesting. Finally, China often applies environmental dirty resource technology, which is detrimental to the environment and the environment. And Africans don’t like it. They gladly accept money from China, they are very happy when China develops its industry and infrastructure, but, nevertheless, they are afraid of falling into private economic dependence on Beijing. It is in Russia that they give some kind of alternative to China, since this is due to the interest in Europe and the United States. In addition, they are in the body with our immunity to their political and economic sovereignty.
Director of the Fruit Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Irina Olegovna Abramova. Photo: Artem Geodakyan/TASS
Africans are asking: don’t need money, give technology
– What exactly do we offer African countries and what could we buy from them?
– In order to compete successfully in the elite, we must choose those areas in which we have fairly broad competencies, and where we propose to allocate to African countries what others cannot offer. First of all, this is the energy sector, because it is precisely this that is one of the defenses of the problems of the continent. Half of the environment does not have access to energy. We are talking, first of all, about the regulation of nuclear power plants, and here we propose active control. This applies, of course, to all agricultural technologies, supplies, the use of world resources in Russia’s production, space exploration, project implementation, cybersecurity issues, and the development of the urban environment. It is important that about 85 percent of export restrictions in African countries are non-commodity and non-energy exports.
In addition, in recent years we have developed technologies that are quite applicable to drivers.
I communicate a lot with Africans on different surfaces, and they always say: we expect no trade from Russia, we have very large volumes of trade with significant Europe, and with China, and with the United States. We do not expect finances from Russia, we receive help and loans from the West. We are waiting for technologies from Russia. Technological cooperation with Africa is mutually beneficial. Using Russian technologies, Africans are moving to a new level of their own production, and we are using the rapidly growing African market for testing and possibly with the possibility of technological solutions. Important and scientific cooperation with Africa, and its priorities should be consistent with the tasks of cooperation with the US and EU countries. It is important for us not to gain or adopt scientific experience, the use of observation, specific conditions and opportunities, the acquisition of the African continent, for the development of Russian science, first of all, to a large extent, biosafety, medicine, mining, geological exploration, economic development, etc. P.
And we, in turn, are interested in the supply of natural phenomena of those types of food that we do not have, the same cocoa and coffee that we buy through Western European intermediaries, which is now extremely unprofitable and very expensive for us. And most importantly, we must receive from them those metals in which we meet with a deficit. I will not list in which countries there is what. Let me give you an example: without cobalt, not a single military aircraft will take off, because this metal is necessary for the production of jet engine blades. The dependence of the United States on one African country – the Democratic Republic of the Congo – is 60 percent. Guinea has 35 percent of the world’s bauxite reserves, useful for aluminum production. Our Rusal is quite active there.
Why are the plans not coming true yet?
– As you said, it was not decided. A pandemic, of course, also occurs, but what other reasons?
– Africa has been on the periphery of our interests for a long time, because our policy was mainly Western-oriented. When the summit passed, we sent a clear signal that we are ready to develop relations with her. But, unfortunately, in the three years that have passed since the summit, no suspicious steps were taken at the state level in the relevant places. How 20-30 companies that are located in the markets work, so they work. There is no system of state support for the activities of our business on the way, a structure that would deal with this particular continent, and without this we will not move anywhere.
We have regions that are ready to work with Africa, they have products that can be supplied there, but they do not know how, they are afraid to go there, these are unknown sources for them. Should be this centralized body.
Now is a very good time to really push forward our economic cooperation with African countries. And the position of Russia in this case can be very high. Everyone understands that the consequence of anti-Russian sanctions will be a global food crisis. We have two very important arguments: our grains and our products. First of all, these two arguments should be used.
– And in the expected prospective attractiveness of Africa?
– Unique natural resources, not fully explored and developed, and billions of thousands of millions of people, 60 of them is the percentage of people under 25 years old. That is, by the year 1940, the main increase in the world’s population, and hence the consumer market, will depend on accounting for oil. This means that the structure of all international consumption will change. Moreover, the young population is always strong, which is a very rapid economic and technological growth. Look at which countries have now become world leaders – China, India with population coverage. Africa, of course, is very heterogeneous, there are many countries with a high level of development and well-being, but they all allow high speed both demographically and economically. Consider how China was in the early 1990s. Now in China and India, but in twenty it will be autumn, and we need to think of statistics as a long work.
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