Memorandums on the use of subsoil with a number of African countries are now being worked out through diplomatic channels, said Abidat Magomedova, the Deputy Director of the Department for International Cooperation and Climate Change of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
“We continue to work on the formation of the necessary regulatory framework for cooperation, as well as to work out the prospects of this cooperation within the existing bilateral mechanisms of cooperation,” Magomedova told a round table of the council of experts on the development and support of the comprehensive partnership with African countries in the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
The key areas of cooperation in the field of geology and subsoil use include, first and foremost, the creation of maps of various orientations and the creation of unified databases of geological data, as well as the forecasting and prospecting of mineral deposits, the official noted.
She also mentioned the implementation of projects on geological exploration and development of potential sites with the participation of Russian companies-subsoil users.
"A number of African countries should be considered as potential partners for cooperation in the mining sector. Especially for those types of minerals that are strategic for Russia, such as lithium, tantalum, uranium, aluminum, manganese, gold," the ministry's representative said.
The legal framework for cooperation has already been established, and working mechanisms are in place with Algeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola, Guinea, Sudan and South Africa, Magomedova noted. Through diplomatic channels, memoranda of understanding in the field on subsoil use are being worked out with Ghana, Benin, Eritrea, the Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau, she concluded.