20.04.2023, Moscow.
Political will has become the main problem for economic rapprochement between Russia and African countries. Dmitry Veselov, a member of the African International Congress (AIC) organizing committee, expressed his opinion in an interview with Rossa Primavera News Agency.
Politics has come to the foreground since “the countries of Africa have been subjected to intense pressure from the United States and the West in general,” said Dmitry Veselov. “We all constantly see trips there made by statesmen and other senior officials of the United States and Europe.”
“This is essentially a tug-of-war: they want to persuade Africa to stop being friends with Russia and support the West. This is a key issue. And they are tens and hundreds of times more active there than we are,” the expert concluded.
The political will must be based “on the real support from Russia. It must become obvious that Russia takes Africa seriously and will not leave, and that it brings an absolutely different agenda, another alternative project of development of Africa and a project of relations with Africa,” the organizer of the congress stressed.
Among the more secondary, actually economic problems, Dmitry Veselov mentioned the absence of direct payments in roubles, the issue of logistics of goods, and the lack of direct flights.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
