African Countries See Russia As Key Agricultural Partner, Says Russian Trade Representative

The 15th iteration of one of the largest media platforms dedicated to agriculture in Africa and somewhere to sell and demonstrate products to a huge number of visitors, the 'Showcase of an Innovative Moroccan Agriculture' (SIAM), is taking place in Morocco's Meknes between 2 and 7 May.
Sputnik
Russia and Africa have close relations which go back a long time, and many nations on the continent view Russia as a major partner - among other things, in agriculture, Alexey Andreev, Trade Representative of Russia in Morocco, told Sputnik on the sidelines of the SIAM 2023 exhibition.

"Russia for a long time has had close ties with African countries," said Andreev, "and I note right away that many African countries consider our country as one of the main partners in different sectors of the economy, especially in agriculture."

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Several Russian companies are present in SIAM, including the Miratorg agricultural holding, the GС Blago sunflower oil producer, the ES-PACE AI developer for online tracking of free-range animals, as well as official manufacturer of lubricants "Lukoil" – LUKOIL Lubricants Africa SARL.

"Events like SIAM are a great opportunity for companies to meet potential customers and get the necessary contacts. For example, the Miratorg company, together with the sales representation, organized an exhibition of its products. In addition to ready semi-finished products. It's like a mixture of frozen vegetables, chicken croquettes, onion rings and elements for animals. [The company] presented to African customers a completely Russian product, pelmeni [Russian dumplings]," the trade representative said.

Speaking about results achieved in the first days of the exhibition, the trade representative highlighted that Russian technologies have sparked interest among the guests.

"Projects dedicated to mechanical engineering as well as the use of new technologies in agriculture, for example, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), are the most interesting. In addition, Russian products of the company ES-PACE, for example, manufacturer special collars to examine large animals, have aroused real interest. This technology is used in Russia to monitor and study the migration routes of reindeer. [...] Moroccans are interested in the application of these technologies in the field of outdoor cattle breeding and in observing camel routes," Andreev said.

He added that African companies are commonly willing to purchase some final products.

"Representatives of African companies are traditionally interested in buying finished Russian products such as grain, oil, fertilizers, semi-finished products," the trade representative said. "I would like to say that the exhibition's vast reputation has attracted such companies as Lukoil Lubricants which has been working in Morocco for some years already and sells all sorts of technical oils for agricultural machinery."

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The official added that African companies are highly interested in Russia's fertilizers and agricultural products as the harsh situation within the global agro-industrial sector unfolds.

"Russian fertilizers are traditionally very popular on the African continent and Russia is considered the premium supplier of this product. We receive a lot of requests to promote these products in Africa and indeed we often hear from representatives of African companies about the very difficult situation of the agro-industrial sector in their countries. We share their concerns and propose to adopt a global approach to solve these complicated problems," he concluded.

Russia is one of the largest producers of agricultural products and fertilizers in the world. However, now, because of anti-Russian sanctions, it simply cannot supply all the products it used to to world markets. As a result, global prices remain high, which negatively affects the food security of African countries. For this reason Russia has declared its readiness to supply a significant amount of fertilizers free of charge, which are blockaded by the West at European ports.
This year, the Russian trade mission in Morocco organized an exhibition of Russian food products for SIAM 2023. The products such as sunflower oil, cheese and other dairy products, confectionery, honey and many others. The display includes some unusual Russian products such as sunflower seeds.
Both trade and agriculture will be among the key topics of discussion during the forthcoming second Russia–Africa Summit, which is going to take place in Russia's St Petersburg from 26 to 29 July.
The first such summit was held in Sochi in 2019 and resulted in the outlining of a set of goals for enhancing cooperation between Russia and the continent in such spheres as politics, security, economics, science, technology, culture, and the humanitarian field.