By Kester Kenn Klomegah, GNA's Moscow Bureau Chief
MOSCOW ( Russia), Oct 24, GNA – Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Russian Federation have sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at an investment forum that aimed at creating a unified regional platform to share with potential Russian businesses, information on investment opportunities and the investment climate in the SADC Region.
The MoU envisages strengthening ties in a broad range of fields and shows that SADC remains as one of Russia's key partners in Africa.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Stergomena Lawrence Tax, signed for the Russian Federation and SADC, respectively.
"Our meeting symbolizes a new stage in the relations between Russia and the SADC. The previous document on cooperation was signed in 2003, and in the last 15 years, our cooperation has reached a qualitatively new level," Lavrov said.
"Africa is an important partner for Russia, a participant in the emerging and sustainable polycentric architecture of the world order.
Our relations with the states of that continent are valuable in their own right and should not be subject to the fluctuations on the international arena," Lavrov said earlier at the Russia-Africa civil gathering organized prior to the SADC-Russia investment forum.
He added: "We are aware that our African friends hold the same views. Relying on the accumulated experience of productive cooperation, Russian diplomats seek to pursue a consistent policy for deepening the range of Russia-Africa relations.".
Lavrov underlined the need to maximize the potential of public, cultural and business diplomacy in the interests of strengthening and expanding the mutually beneficial ties between Russia and African states while invariably adhering to the African solutions to African problems principle formulated by the Africans themselves.
He announced that a parliamentary and a business forum would be held in the near future to help expand economic cooperation with Africa.
On his part, the SADC Executive Secretary said "Russia and Africa have been partners for many years, and expressed a desire to achieve a new level in their relations."
She said it was encouraging that, in recent times, Russia had been repositioning itself to be a major partner with Southern Africa.
She found it refreshing that the East European nation had launched a plan aimed at improving direct trade with the continent/region beyond the traditional sectors like mining and seeking to invest in areas like agriculture, industrial production, high technology and transport.
Russia’s priorities tied in with those of the SADC, she added.
The region has a combined population of approximately 327 million people, and a collective GDP of US$ 600 billion (2016)
GNA
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