A few days after the Russia-Africa Summit was held in St. Petersburg, Fred M'membe, president of the Socialist Party of Zambia, spoke to Sputnik Africa about the event, which brought together Russian and African leaders and senior officials.
"It was attended by all regions of Africa. West Africans were there. Southern Africans were there. East Africans were there. North Africans were there, including the president of the Comoros, who is the chairman of the African Union, was there. And also there were so many academics, so many business people who attended the summit. So, in my view and in all honesty, this summit was a big success," he stated.
M'membe also denied reports in the Western media that the summit had failed due to a lack of guests, arguing that they never report anything positive about Russia.
"But what did you expect from the Western media? When have they reported anything positive about Russia? Everything about Russia is a failure or if it's a success, the success is attributable to something negative," M'membe stated.
What Did the Summit Achieve?
The Second Russia-Africa Summit was attended by nearly 6,000 participants and journalists from about 100 countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin "highly appreciated" the results of the summit and hoped that they would "further deepen the Russian-African partnership in the interests of the prosperity and well-being of our peoples."
According to Russian presidential aide Anton Kobyakov, a total of 92 agreements were signed during the summit. The volume of contracts, the value of which is not considered a trade secret, amounts to more than one trillion Russian rubles, or more than 10 billion US dollars.
Among other things, the summit participants adopted the Action Plan of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum for 2023-2026, which outlines the main lines of cooperation between Moscow and African countries.
Mozambique's Trade Minister Silvino Moreno said he was "impressed" by the organization of the event. For his part, the chairman of the African Union and president of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani, praised the "optimal conditions" created by the Russian side for holding the summit and thanked Moscow for the warm and fraternal welcome. Assoumani stressed that the success of this summit was also a success for Africans.
"We have truly achieved success both for President Putin, who invited us, and also for all of us Africans. If Russia wins, Africa wins with it."