Russia Prepares Trade Agreements With Egypt, Morocco & Tunisia

Russia is preparing trade agreements with Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, adding that Moscow should also pay attention to other regions of Africa and expand cooperation with them.

"We are preparing agreements on a free trade zone with Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria. This is all northern Africa. There are many more so-called points of development on the continent and there are very interesting countries. Therefore, in no case should we miss other regions," Putin said during a meeting with government officials.

The president added that Russia must use political interaction with African countries to deepen economic ties, noting that Moscow and the continent treat each other "as friends" and enjoy a strong partnership based on mutual trust and respect.

"We all saw with you that they treat Russia as a friend, and we treat African countries as friends, we need to transform this level of political trust into economic cooperation," Putin stated.

The continent is huge and is expected to develop "very positively, making up for what was lost" in the previous decades, Putin said, citing experts in African studies. He noted that the issue of cooperation with the continent should be approached comprehensively.

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Russia as Africa's Partner in Struggle for Economic Independence

African countries see Russia as a reliable partner in their struggle for economic independence, said Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Economic Development, during the president's meeting with the government members.

"The countries of Africa are moving from the struggle for political sovereignty and independence to the struggle for economic sovereignty. And in these processes they see us as a reliable partner, they are ready to give Russian business an opportunity to develop and earn. And we are ready to share experience and technologies," he said.

The minister noted that economic cooperation with African countries has gained new momentum since 2019 as mutual trade has grown for three years in a row. The main task, according to Reshetnikov, is to increase and balance trade cooperation with Africa. As of now, he added, Russian exports account for more than 80% of the trade turnover.

"It is necessary to increase imports," Reshetnikov said, adding: "There is also a regional imbalance: more than 65% of the trade turnover last year fell on six countries of North Africa. It is important to intensify contacts with other countries."

To address these issues, he noted, it is planned to increase insurance support for deliveries, connect African banks to the Russian financial messaging system and thus switch to settlements in rubles, as well as develop the mechanism of free trade agreements.

He noted that the Russia-Africa Summit, held on July 27-28 in St. Petersburg, showed that "there is a lot of work to be done" to support exports, investments, sustainable development, as well as cooperation in cultural sphere.

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Reshetnikov also proposed to create a new department for cooperation with African countries in the ministry under his supervision, explaining that the work in the African direction will require additional "hands" and competencies in the Ministry of Economic Development.

"I ask to support our initiative to create a department for interaction with African countries within the structure of the ministry," Reshetnikov said.

Moreover, the minister said that Russia is exploring the possibility of locating a logistics hub on the east coast of Africa as part of the North-South corridor, stressing that the development of transport corridors is highly needed as Russia is set to enhance trade with the continent.

An intergovernmental agreement on the creation of a multimodal North-South transport corridor was signed by Russia, India and Iran in 2000. Later, the list of participants expanded to 14. The goal of the project is to enable the transit of cargo flows from India, Iran and the Persian Gulf countries through Russian territory to Europe.