The Embassy Watch

At the 3rd Russia–Africa Summit in Moscow, today, I reaffirmed Africa’s firm commitment to ending longstanding dependency on foreign aid and raw material extraction, urging our global partners to embrace investment models that deliver equitable, long-term returns for all. Our goal as Africa’s current leaders is to eliminate administrative bottlenecks and transform historic goodwill into robust, sustainable commercial ties. Africa is a continent of the future. Immense opportunities abound for mutual investment between African and Russian enterprises, particularly in agriculture, agro-processing, healthcare, energy security, and digital services. To address trade imbalances and create direct market access for African goods, we must deploy modernised trade settlement mechanisms, including the use of local currencies and integrated digital payments. Better market information, predictable quality standards, resilient logistics, and closer cooperation between our respective private sectors can make trade far more balanced, reliable, and mutually rewarding.