AFRICA TO RUSSIA, RUSSIA TO AFRICA: THE WORLD ECONOMIC TURBULENCE MAY BECOME A STRONG PUSH TO DEVELOP AND CONSOLIDATE TIES BETWEEN RUSSIA AND AFRICA

On the 29th of July 2023 in Saint Petersburg there was a summit meeting between the President of the Russian Society of Friendship with Tanzania, the business ambassador from Delovaya Rossia in Tanzania Yury Korobov with the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania Kassim Majaliwa.

The Tanzanian part was also represented by the Tanzanian Ambassador in Russia Frederick Ibrahim Kibbutz and the Ambassador, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tanzania Mbaruk Nassor Mbaruk. The correspondent of «Nasha Versiya» requested Yury Korobov to comment the significance of the event, the overall results and the atmosphere of the past Summit Russia-Africa.Correspondent of Nasha Versiya (The Source): Yury Anatolievitch, if possible, a few words about the past summit in the beginning.The course of friendship and partnershipYury Korobov (YK): The Sammit Russia-Africa is top level negotiations with representatives of almost fifty African countries. It took place in Saint Petersburg on the 27th and 28th of July. 18 countries were represented by their Presidents, 6 countries – by their Prime Ministers and 23 countries – by the Deputies Heads of States or the Ministers. The Russian part was headed by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. These were two eventful days with meetings and negotiations. As a participant of the event, I can say the summit, in addition to the recorded results, has created many promising strategic lines which are going to develop in the coming years.The Source: What is your view on the prospects for partnership, are they available?YK: I can say more. I have no doubt about the expansion of the partnership between Russia and the countries of the African continent in the nearest future. What do we have right now? The trade relations between the Russian Federation and Africa, I can say, are in the rudimentary stage. The continent accounts for only 3% of Russian exports and 1% of imports, whereas Africa takes 20 percent of entire land surface on the planet, over 3000 ethnic groups, over 2000 languages.The Source: Yes, it’s interesting.YK: You know, if to describe the current processes in two words I would probably use the words uniqueness and synergy. The traditions and culture of the countries located on different continents are unique, the technologies created in certain climatic conditions are unique. Joining efforts, revealing our “uniqueness” to each other we have got results far exceeding the arithmetic sum. Traditional, established things have opened up new facets causing a synergistic effect that residents of both Russia and the countries of the African continent will perceive in the near future.The Source: To whose benefit is the partnership going on? YK: The answer is obvious – to mutual benefit! New sales markets, technologies, long-term cooperation strategies in various spheres… Russia has got something to give Africa, we are really interesting for our African friends. Africa, for its part, is high-potential for our country. We are talking about building a mutually profitable fair partnership between Russia and the States of Africa. The Source: If it’s possible, in more detail. Long-expected technologies YK: I will give particular examples. Since the establishment of the Russian Society of Friendship with Tanzania in 2021 we have managed to outline and to start implementing some joint economic and cultural projects. It should be emphasized that in we were supported at the highest governmental level in Tanzania. It began with creation of Russian houses in this country. At the recent summit, our President mentioned the importance of developing cultural ties through such centers. In the cultural terms, a great achievement, as I consider, is the launch of the program on popularization of the Swahili language in Russia and the Russian language in Tanzania. Mutual knowledge of the languages and the culture of the partner countries is the basis for the implementation of long-term strategic mutually beneficial programs in various fields and the key to the development of our friendship and partnershipSuch partnership already exists and is expanding. At the summit, there was a large group of businessmen as a part of the Tanzanian delegation whose interests included the joint construction and processing of precious metals, the development of the food industry and the food production: fruits, cocoa beans, coffee, tea; as well as the implementation of joint projects on energy, metallurgy, oil and mining industry (metal mining including aluminum; oil, gas and uranium deposits exploitation). More than 50 round tables were organized at the forum, where the businessmen agreed about certain interactions. At one of the meetings, in the presence of Thomas Molelli – an employee of the United Republic of Tanzania Embassy in Russia – an important trilateral Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Tver Regional department of Delovaya Rossiya, the Union of Farmers and Private Farms of the Tver Region and the Tanzanian Сompany SSEBO Enterprises Limited, whose main field of activity is viticulture, wine manufacture, ginger and avocado cultivation, raisin production.The Source: Yury Anatolievitch, you mentioned technologies earlier, are there any examples?YK: Thanks to the work of the Tanzanian Ambassador in Russia Fredrik Ibrahim Kubita, the Friendship Society with Tanzania organized a meeting of representatives of the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy with some Russian entrepreneurs who are working in the alternative energy sector. Let’s agree that if you need to use solar panels somewhere, it will be on the African continent. In Tanzania today, about 92% of the energy system is connected with the use of wood as fuel. Also, the creation of network solar power plants and smaller projects were discussed, for example, the creation of hot water systems based on solar collectors or the development of heat accumulators that could be used for drying fruits and berries.The Source: Probably, the implementation of such technologies will really become a breakthrough into the future for the Tanzanian economy. Is there anything that Russian consumers will experience?YK: Absolutely. I was just about to say that. We are talking about technologies and equipment for sublimation of products. This is extremely advantageous both in terms of preserving the useful qualities of products (up to 97%) and in terms of logistics, since with this method of drying the weight gets reduced to 93 percent, also the shelf life of such product is close to unlimited; the process is carried out with minimal use of energy resources, in comparison with freezing, for example.During our meeting, the Prime Minister of Tanzania Kassim Majaliwa focused on this particular technology separately, promising the support in its implementation and development in his country. After all, according to him, sublimation would solve an important problem related with long-term storaging fresh foodstuff available abundantly in Tanzania. This would be convenient for both large Tanzanian producers and private companies. Tanzania is quite capable to take a serious market share in the international sublimate market.