Russia still reviewing visa-free regime for Africa

By Kestér Kenn KLOMEGÂH

Russian Foreign Ministry has clarified that visa-free regime for African countries is still under serious review, diplomatic talks with different countries on the drafts of visa-free travel agreements undergoing different stages as each of them has its own specifics.

On 2nd October 2024, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department Head Alexey Klimov said in an interview with local Russian media: “Russia is currently working out travel agreements on abolishing visa requirements and providing visa-free entry for short-term trips, usually up to 90 days, with a number of friendly states, nine of them being the countries of Africa and the Middle East.”

“As always, we will immediately inform the public about the concrete results achieved and embodied in documented bilateral agreements,” Klimov concluded, the full transcript posted the official ministry’s website.

With the changing times, Russia has been pursuing an integrative multipolar relations with friendly countries around the world, including those in Africa. But Russia is still not a popular holiday destination for Africa’s political elite, corporate business leaders and middle-class. The politicians and corporate business leaders highly prefer to spend their vacation in the United States and Europe, some Asian destinations are increasingly becoming their preferential choice. That trend is unlikely to change, it will remain as such for the next decades.

After the first symbolic Russia-Africa summit in the Black Sea city of Sochi in October 2019, both Russia and Africa adopted a joint declaration – in fact a comprehensive document which outlines various parameters for uplifting cooperation into a new qualitative stage.

Ultimately and in order to boost effective economic interests and to foster cooperation, frequent interactions are necessary. The frequency of interaction should not only be established during summits and conferences, but some basic strategic steps and measures are necessary to encourage simply holiday travels to both regions.

These are significantly missing in the current relations between Russia and Africa. Critics often say Russia is contributing enormously to its own so-termed isolation, by closing its doors especially when there are huge opportunities to develop first-class tourism.

Certainly, by playing flexible visa regimes will not only promote tourism and further strengthen cultural ties but it will, in practical terms, neutralise the high level of western media disinformation across the continent. There is the need to take a pragmatic approach to these questions. This is the most important aspects to leverage relations.

With current geopolitical situation, Africa’s middle-class estimated at 380 million still has other suitable alternative holiday destinations. Moscow and St. Petersburg are not their desire priority for spending vacations.

Russian tour operators acknowledge that there is nothing such as African tourism to Russia. On the opposite side, Morocco, Egypt, Seychelles, South Africa and Zanzibar are the few African destinations popular among Russian vacationers.

The second Summit Declaration on 28 July 2023 in Saint Petersburg, underlined building on the historical and time-tested friendly ties between the Russian Federation and African States. Noticeably, Russia officials only dream of official state visit by heads of African states and ministers as an essential pillar of their version of multipolar world.

Most often, Russia and Africa have been discussing how best to promote exchanges of delegations, explore untapped resources, the possibilities of promoting cooperation in the field of tourism, dissemination of information on tourism opportunities of the Russian Federation and African States.

For these past few years since Sochi, the first declaration remains tacitly as a declaration. In practical terms,  visa-free regime for African countries has remained largely as official documents stacked in computerized files and would later be pushed into electronic historical archives.

The basic question often asked is for what purposes are the summit declarations. “Russia is ready to build multifaceted relations with Africa. If Russia Wins, Africa Wins!” remarked as the Chairman of the African Union, Comoros President Azali Assoumani during the late July St. Petersburg summit.

After the first Russia-Africa summit held in Sochi (2019), and within the framework of the joint declaration that was adopted, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation created a Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.

With hopes for comprehensive and enduring collaboration on long-term programs, Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum has since then been networking for potential Russian, African and international organisations with the aim of promoting Russia’s economic interests in Africa and to foster mutually beneficial cooperation with African countries.

Early September 2023, local Russian media abuzzed with latest information emerging from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Russia plans ‘visa-free regime’ with all African countries, referring to the fact that it was within the framework of Russia and Africa’s Action Plan (2023-2026) adopted at the second summit in St. Petersburg.

Our investigations and research indicate that Russia has visa-free agreements with only six African countries. And visa-free regime only applied to African countries that signed agreements with Foreign Ministry. Within the agreements, only holders of diplomatic passports are permitted under this consular agreement. Moreover, the point on developing or facilitating work, easing contacts with African countries, between ordinary citizens of Russia and Africa still need visas to travel both ways.

According to sources monitored, agreements have to be signed after successful negotiation with Russian authorities. One source confirmed in an interview with me that Russia has an agreement on visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic service passports with 32 countries on the continent, and yet refused to make public and to the media the official list of approved African countries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the African leaders adopted the final declaration of the second Russia-Africa summit. An action plan of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum for the period 2023-2026 and a number of other documents were also adopted. In addition, a number of agreements, contracts and other documents related to various areas of cooperation between Russia and Africa were approved on the sidelines of the forum and the summit.

“We highly appreciate the results of the joint work at the summit. I am confident that the results achieved will form a good basis for further deepening the Russian-African partnership in the interests of prosperity and well-being of our peoples,” Putin said in a speech posted to official Kremlin website. Putin was pleased with the results of the summit, which was held in a “constructive and very friendly atmosphere.” Russia and the Africa confirmed their position on the formation of a multipolar world order.

According to the stipulated rules and regulations, the Russia-Africa summit will be held every three years. In the period between the Russia-Africa summits, the mechanism of dialogue partnership will operate, regular political consultations will continue through the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Russia, African States and the leadership of the African Union Commission.

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