Ministry of Foreign Affairs: US-Africa summit will not affect Russia’s relations with continental countries

MOSCOW, December 16 – RIA Novosti. Georgy Todua, Deputy Head of the African Department of the Russian Federation, said that Moscow does not see the recent US-Africa summit as a threat to Russia’s relations with African countries, the main thing is that they should not be told who to be “friends” with. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told RIA Novosti.

The US-Africa summit, which ended in Washington the previous day, began on 13 December and was attended by nearly 50 countries of the continent.

“The talks of African countries in any direction are not a threat to us: there have been summits in the African-EU format, there are summits with China, they are held regularly, there is such a format with Japan, there is also with the USA.” We started this mechanism. Our position has always been simple and clear – we never told anyone who we would be friendly with. “We have always been against telling independent sovereign countries whether they will be friends with us,” he said.

The summit was attended by the heads of state and government of 49 African countries, as well as a representative from the African Union. Some countries, such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Sudan, where the coup took place, were not invited to the three-day meeting. The Forum did not cover Eritrea, which has no US diplomatic relations. The leaders of Zimbabwe and South Africa had previously announced that the trip was canceled for various reasons.

The White House said that after the summit, the United States announced a $15 billion investment partnership with Africa. As US President Joe Biden announced, the $15 billion deals are designed to promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, health, agriculture, finance, infrastructure and communications technology.