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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev toured Africa last week, visiting Egypt, Nigeria, Namibia and Angola, with the aim of increasing Russian trade and cooperation with the region, particularly in energy resources. Russia has had only weak ties with Africa since the fall of the Soviet Union, but now views the region as an important part of its ambitions to strengthen its global power. Many commentators view the move as a response to the growing influence of China on the continent.
"We have seriously overlooked Africa", commented Alexei Vasiliev, Director of the Institute for African Studies. "Nigeria's trade with Russia is about $300 million a year, compared with $40 billion with the U.S. and $11 billion with China," he added. Russia's energy giant Gazprom signed a 2.5bn dollar deal to build refinery facilities, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria. Gazprom is also keen to be involved in the proposed Trans-Saharan gas pipeline which would deliver North African gas to Europe, Russia's key export market. Russia also signed nuclear power cooperation agreements in Egypt and Nigeria. Medvedev's tour focused on the exploitation of African natural resources: primarily gas, oil, uranium and diamonds. Sustainable development was nowhere on the agenda. Climate change will, however, be the main focus of US President Obama's visit to Russia next week. The US hopes to lay the ground for a strong Russian commitment to emissions reductions at the international climate change summit in Copenhagen in December. Sources: |
