President of Russia, Vladimir Putin has said his country through the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance will offer preferential loans support and insurance to African companies to help them buy industrial goods from Russia and also offer them after-sales services. An investment fund will also be set aside to finance infrastructure projects in the continent.
Putin made his intentions known during the Russia-Africa Summit and Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum currently holding in St. Petersburg, Russia.
“Russia is developing new tools for offering preferential loans to enable Africans to buy our industrial goods, deliver them to the continent, and benefit from after-sales services.The Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance is there to provide insurance for these loans. We are devising a leasing mechanism tailored for Africa and are about to establish a dedicated investment fund for co-financing infrastructure projects.” Putin said to African leaders.
“We have positive experience in developing and using information technology solutions for administering taxes, registering property rights, offering e-government services to individuals and entities, including the corporate sector.We can help African countries that are interested in these solutions launch similar systems and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to sharing our know-how for promoting technological development.” He added.
He said Russia was ready to help African countries develop financial infrastructure and create a synergy between banks in his country and Africa. He said If africa is aligned to the Russian financial messaging system, cross-border payments could now be made easily in-spite of restrictions put in place by some Western countries.
“Russia is actively reorienting its transport and logistics flows to the Global South, including Africa, of course. The North-South transport corridor that we are building is designed to provide Russian products with access to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, with further connections via the shortest sea route to the African continent, among other regions. Naturally, this corridor can be used in reverse to deliver African goods to Russia.
“Connecting the North-South transport corridor with Africa, lunching regular freight lines, which is our goal, and opening a Russian transport and logistics hub in a port on the eastern shore of Africa could be a good start of our cooperation. We consider it extremely important to expand the network of direct flights to Africa and to contribute to the development of the railway network in Africa. These are the most important goals of our time that we invite our African friends to tackle together.”
The summit had leaders from 20 african countries in attendance including President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa and Vice President Kashim Shettima who represented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
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