BRICS Alliance Focuses on Helping CAR, Burkina Faso, Where People Eager for New Society: Official
17:20 30.07.2023 (Updated: 19:25 30.07.2023)
© Sputnik . Alexander Galperin
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On the sidelines of the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, where Russian and African leaders met to discuss areas of mutual interest, Sputnik spoke to Larisa Zelentsova, head of the International Alliance of BRICS Strategic Projects, an agency that promotes civic initiatives and people's diplomacy, about the NGO's activities in Africa.
The International Alliance of BRICS Strategic Projects has established offices in various regions of Africa and appointed representatives in West and Central Africa, as well as Southern, East, and North Africa, Larisa Zelentsova, President of the International Alliance of BRICS Strategic Projects, told Sputnik Africa in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg.
Notable countries include Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic (CAR). According to Zelentsova, the organization has already begun implementing projects in several of these countries.
"The most important for us today are the Central African Republic and Burkina Faso, because they are maybe, you know, the face of any country are the people. Maybe the people in those countries are so eager to create, to construct a new society," she said, adding that there is "a big desire from our side to help them."
In the context of trending discussions about the formation of a multipolar world, Zelentsova recognized the growing role of the BRICS group, which unites some of the world's largest economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), and the growing interest in this bloc in the Global South.
She highlighted that people's desire to build relationships based on human connections represents a significant shift away from purely bureaucratic or governmental interactions.
The head of the International Alliance of BRICS Strategic Projects added that her NGO aims to capitalize on this trend by helping African countries such as Burkina Faso and the CAR adopt new technologies and modern business practices.
"It's very interesting because many of our businesses now, they entered first of all, we can talk about Burkina Faso and Central African Republic, just to create together a platform for using new technologies. Because it's also a new tendency of these African countries, they want to learn new tendencies and businesses and science and new technologies," Zelentsova explained. "And we want to help them."
Zelentsova revealed that the International Alliance of BRICS Strategic Projects has already opened its headquarters in the CAR and has actively begun to implement its plans. Since opening its office in the CAR, the organization has signed about 15 memorandums and other documents to launch projects that are crucial for the country's development.
These projects include the establishment of a 5G system, trade initiatives and the construction of two agricultural factories. The initiative has already had a noticeable impact, with the people showing optimism and a deep desire for a new life facilitated by technological advances.
"They're so beautiful, and they're so, how to say, they're very intelligent, very well-educated, and they're so eager to start a new life that they don't even want to hear anything about going back to their previous life," Zelentsova told Sputnik. "It's very difficult, of course, but the country is very rich and that's why we want to help with technologies first of all."
Speaking of trade, Zelentsova acknowledged that the issue of using national currencies in trade between the BRICS group and African countries as an alternative settlement format to the US dollar is indeed "very difficult in general." There are ongoing attempts to find solutions in this regard.
Although the BRICS official cautioned that she could not disclose all the details, she did share that a special BRICS group has been in talks with the president of the Central African Republic about a possible payment system.
"They discussed how to arrange this payment system, and they have found the solution, as I know for sure, but specially for the Central African Republic," she stated. "And I think that if they already know, I mean businesses, how to enter this republic, how to work in it in this difficult situation, especially in connection with payment, I think that it's possible."
Commenting on the choice of the Central African Republic to establish the headquarters of the International Alliance of BRICS Strategic Projects, Zelentsova emphasized the alignment of common human values and goals between the people of the country and its President, Professor Faustin-Archange Touadera, on the one hand, and BRICS representatives, on the other.
According to her, this mutual understanding and cooperation served as the basis for the organization's decision to establish its headquarters in the country.
"I think that the main reason may be, again, is people, because Central African Republic and its president, Professor Touadera, they want to make their country as an example for other African countries, and they are in the center, and they want to cooperate with people who have the same human values, the same goals," Larisa Zelentsova concluded.
