African nations expect Russian companies to become more "aggressive" in terms of providing investments and deepening economic ties with the continent in various areas of cooperation, said George Elombi, Executive Vice President at the African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank), in an interview with Sputnik Africa.
"We would like to see the Russian corporates embrace investments in the African countries with a little more aggression," he said.
The official noted that over the years, Africa and Russia have identified the main areas of trade and investment cooperation, including refined petroleum products, fertilizers, steel and railway construction.
According to Elombi, the continent is ready to work with Russian companies, given their experience and profound expertise in technology and management. He called on Russian businesses to invest in Africa, noting that there are already "strong African financial institutions" that can assist them in this process if needed.
"What we need most is the management capability, those who can do the railway lines and do steel plants. And then we're going to supply them with some financing [...]," he elaborated, adding: "So all we call from Russia, from others is to be aggressive on the investments in the continent."
The Afreximbank vice president also added that Russia is able not only to expand exports of certain products to Africa, but also to establish processing and production facilities on its territory, so that Russian companies can produce goods on the continent and then export them to other African countries.
"It seems to us that they can also invest and process those things within the African continent [...]," he said, adding: "And if there are excesses, sell those excesses to non-African countries and still make money. And those will count as African exports."
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite the difficulties stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions, Russia and African nations have recently managed to expand economic ties, with mutual trade growing by almost 35% this year. He also noted that Russia remains a reliable supplier of food to African countries, adding that in 2022, food exports to the continent amounted to $4.7 billion.
The second Russia-Africa Summit is taking place in the city of St. Petersburg on July 27-28. Participants are expected to sign a number of international and bilateral documents in various spheres, ranging from politics and the economy to science and culture.