Putin: Russia Forgives $20 Billion In Debt To African Nations.

Speaking at a global legislative conference on “Russia-Africa in a Multipolar World,” Putin said that commerce between Russia and African nations is increasing every year and would reach about $18 billion in 2022.

We recognize that this is far from the maximum, but it is doubtful that such a number can totally please us, he said.

Putin said that he thought “a more vigorous transfer in financial settlements to national currencies, and the formation of new transport and logistics networks would help the growth of counter-commodity exchanges.”

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) establishment process, which started in 2021 and would eventually become a continental market with a total GDP of more than $3 trillion, he said, “opens up further prospects.”

He said that Africa would become one of the major players in the multipolar world and that Moscow supports building relations with the AfCFTA both via the Eurasian Economic Union and bilaterally.

The weight and importance of African governments in global events is continually growing, and they are becoming more and more self-assured in both politics and the economy. In the next new multipolar international order, we are certain that Africa will take the lead, continued Putin.

He said that the neo-colonial philosophy is opposed by Russia and the nations of Africa, Asia, and South America.

“Countries like Russia and Africa defend moral standards and social values that have long been held by our peoples, and we fight neo-colonial philosophy imposed from outside,” he stated. “Several countries in Asia, the Middle East, and South America have similar views, and collectively we constitute the majority of nations in the globe.”