Russia has written off debts to African countries worth $20 billion and these funds are also being redirected to projects for development.
This was stated by the special representative of the President of Russia for the Middle East and African countries, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Mikhail Bogdanov in an interview with TASS regarding the results of the first Russian-African ministerial conference.
„About $20 billion has been written off, we now have a refinancing program to redirect debt to development projects,” the deputy minister said.
The first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum was held on November 9-10 in the Sirius Federal Territory. The event was attended by about 1,500 delegates, including 45 ministers from countries on the African continent.
The Russian side will open embassies in several countries on the African continent, including Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone.
"We have a whole list of countries where embassies were closed,”, noted Bogdanov.
He emphasized that in some African countries, such as South Sudan, the Russian side agreed to open an embassy, but for various reasons this was not done. “Now, hopefully, that is also in the plan – to open a representative office in Juba, South Sudan”, summed up the deputy minister.