Areas for Developing Trade and Economic Cooperation with African States amid Transformation of Russia’s Foreign Policy

Abstract

Expanding and diversifying cooperation with friendly countries, including Africa, is relevant for Russia’s economy. The purpose of the paper is to substantiate areas for developing trade and investment cooperation with African states amid significant foreign economic restrictions, competition, and limited investment funds. Based on the analysis of African import product structure and comparative analysis of Russian and African output, analysis of data on past and present industrial cooperation, the authors systemize prospects for trade and investment cooperation, developing a number of them. The findings, in the authors’ view, stress the importance of engineering services for energetic and agricultural infrastructure for African countries, exports of various equipment, and increasing the supply of iron and steel. Moreover, it is relevant to modernize African infrastructure created in the Soviet period, to set up Russian production units attracting African specialists educated in Russia, and exporting some of the products to Russia and other countries; to arrange for servicing the exported industrial goods; to oversee the African supply in various spheres; to facilitate barter and mutual payments in national currencies.