The III Russia-Africa Summit, held in Moscow and concluded this Thursday, has ended with an agreement between the Kremlin and its African partners to deepen the development of nuclear energy for civil purposes and the exchange of fertilizers, in a context of strong commercial instability stemming from the war in Iran.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has received in the Russian capital around twenty African heads of State and Government. In recent years, the leader has presented Africa as a space of strategic priority for Moscow, in line with the belt of military juntas of the Sahel, where Russia has taken advantage of Europe's distancing to gain influence and even deploy Russian mercenaries in the fight against jihadism.
In the final declaration of the summit, Russia has reiterated its intention to strengthen the presence of African countries in the UN decision-making processes. The secretary general of the body, António Guterres, has repeatedly denounced the continent's scant representativeness in international structures.
Likewise, all the signatories commit to "increase cooperation in the field of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including the extraction and processing of uranium, the construction of nuclear power plants of various capacities and support for the life cycle of existing nuclear facilities in Africa".
The document also includes the commitment to expand "the mutual supply of agricultural products and fertilizers, and introduce modern technologies" in this area, together with the strengthening of "cooperation to combat disinformation in the field of mass communications", according to the closing communiqué released by the Kremlin.
Putin has presented the results of the meeting as a sign of progress in the ties between Russia and the African continent. "Russia", he stated, "supports the continent's desire to play a more important role in international decision-making and laid out its vision on international security issues, dialogue with Europe and the lessons of the world wars".