By RFIPosted on 24-10-2019Modified on 24-10-2019 at 22:49

Opened yesterday, the first Russia-Africa summit ended on Thursday (October 24th) in Sochi. With this event, Moscow wants to mark his return to the continent and intends to perpetuate this type of appointment.

With our special envoys in Sochi, Florence Morice and Daniel Vallot

Vladimir Putin believes that the Sochi summit has " opened a new page " of relations between Russia and Africa. One thing is certain, the Russian president managed to mobilize. All 54 African countries were represented, 43 of them by their Heads of State and Government .

However, no major contract was announced during these two days. But the Russian president is pleased to have laid the foundations that should allow in the future for his country to intensify its trade with the continent.

Annual and triennial meetings

These exchanges are still weak today. Moscow wants to double them in five years. To achieve this, President Vladimir Putin announced the creation of a new dialogue mechanism. He predicts that summits like this one will now take place every three years, one in Russia and one in Africa.

And that each year, consultations will be organized at the level of foreign ministers between Russia, on the one hand, and three African states that will change each year, according to rotations at the head of the African Union.

Throughout the summit, Vladimir Putin insisted on what, according to him, unites Moscow and the continent: a history of anti-colonial struggle and a concern to defend today the principle of sovereignty. He also stressed the importance of Africa for Moscow today.

International institutions in the viewfinder

" The states of Africa are increasingly of political and economic importance, " said the Russian leader. They assert themselves as pillars of the multipolar world, and in many cases our positions are close and sometimes even identical. This promotes our relations within international institutions. And so we will coordinate our actions with African countries that are non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. "

If Vladimir Putin evokes the United Nations, it is not by chance. Following the example of China, Russia wants to build alliances with African countries within the UN organization - to put more weight on appointments, decisions and votes.

For their part, several African leaders have set their conditions for this possible rapprochement with Moscow: that Russia supports them in their ambition to obtain a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

In a joint declaration, signed at the conclusion of the summit, Russia and the African Union denounced " political dictates and monetary blackmail " and called for a reform of the United Nations Security Council so that Africa be better represented.

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