Russia- Africa summit: Vladimir Putin assures President Museveni
Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured to continue granting support to Uganda and Africa in general. Putin made the remarks yesterday during the inaugural Russia- Africa summit meeting held in Sochi.
While addressing, Putin stated that such meetings are aimed at promoting developments in many sectors including technology, agriculture, information among others.
“We also see possibilities for cooperation in the field of construction, development of information technologies and cybersecurity, agriculture, medicine and pharmaceutics, telecommunications, operation and servicing of helicopters, as well as ecology,” Putin said.
Tweet
Besides, he indicates that an agreement was already reached in April 2018 to establish in Uganda a national system for exploring, assessing and certifying mineral deposits to set up an analytical laboratory with international accreditation.
Meanwhile, President Yoweri Museveni who was also in attendance commended the Russian president for the great work done in aiding African countries in particular Uganda.
“Russia and Uganda are cooperating very well in the areas of defence and security by buying good quality Russian equipment including aircraft,” Museveni said before adding that they are already working on establishing big projects.
Tweet
“It will strengthen trade and bilateral relations between Africa and Russia. We are working on building workshops for maintenance and overhaul of equipment we get from Russia, like the aircraft which will greatly reduce costs,” Museveni added.
Tweet
Besides, Museveni pinpointed that ties with Russia have not just begun but they started way back during Africa’s fight for independence when Russia and China supported Africans in their fight for freedom.
In his statement, Museveni also implied that these relationships have been growing over the years until today when they are quite visible to the public.
For the first-ever Russia-Africa Summit, it was a fully packed meeting with the Russian president welcoming thousands of African leaders to discuss politics and business.
Unlike China, the two-day event saw Putin together with various delegates from across Russia and Africa discuss an array of topics from nuclear energy to mineral extraction.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi before the two leaders agreed to hold the meeting.
All 54 African states sent a representative to the meeting, including 43 heads of state or government, according to various Russian media houses.
Putin however, implied that Russia as a country exports more food to Africa than they export in arms adding that they are even more determined to see it doubled.
“We currently export to Africa $25 billion ($22.5 billion) worth of food — which is more than we export in arms, at $15 billion. In the next four to five years I think we should be able to double this trade, at least,” Putin said.
Tweet
By John Dalton Kigozi
