World
Expanding BRICS for Numerical Strength or Ensuring Qualitative Geopolitical Influence
By Professor Maurice Okoli
As stipulated by the guidelines, Russia will take over BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] from January 2024. With the heightening of geopolitical tensions, Russia’s priority focus is on the group’s possible enlargement to counter U.S. hegemony. It plans to push seriously for critical reforms in the international financial architecture and create a solidified platform for building an equitable multipolar world order.
In the past few years, the BRICS group has taken a number of broad initiatives that aim at countering hegemonic policies and against the collective West for imposing the ‘rules of the game’ on the world majority. There have been explicit indications that Russia’s BRICS presidency from January 2024 will constitute another clear chance towards entering into forming alliances with Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in early October that BRICS had agreed on a list of candidates for partner-state status ahead of the upcoming summit in Kazan in 2024. According to Ryabkov, during the Russian BRICS chairmanship, special attention would be expanding the “circle of BRICS friends,” including in Latin America.
Many Latin American countries have expressed their desire to join the group. African countries, particularly Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Central African Republic have appeared on Russia’s list as potential members. In addition, Angola, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe have appeared in media reports, striking membership deals with Russia, hoping to secure their ultimate accession to BRICS status during Russia’s chairmanship.
Currently, Russia is supporting African countries in their fight against trends of growing neocolonialism, forging close cooperation in preserving their sovereignty and political independence. Russia has persistently been confronting Europe and the United States over dominating and exploiting Africa. The relationship between China and Russia is strengthening. Nevertheless, China and Russia still have their approaches to some global issues. China promotes cooperation even with the United States, while Russia insists on confrontation. Creating divisions and partitions is simply not the right path to global peace and development. Why not attempt to reach ‘consensus’ – the catchword of BRICS? This fierce political confrontation is sharpening disunity across Africa, and impacting the prospects of the African Continental Trade Area [AfCFTA], the African Union’s flagship program under the Agenda 2063.
Despite the continental instability, African countries still seriously consider the traditional markets in the United States and Europe for their revenue products, and the recent Johannesburg summit witnessed in-depth discussions relating to new agreements between the AfCFTA and the African Growth and Opportunity Act [AGOA] which will presumably be extended for another 16 years, until 2041. It offers certain broad conditions as a stepping-stone to address regional and global challenges, especially for Africa’s young and entrepreneurial population. That expected leverage will strengthen trade relations with Africa.
South Africa and BRICS
South Africa has so far displayed pragmatism. It deals with global players without discriminating. Moreover, South Africa has adopted ‘neutrality’ and further taken non-aligned positions on many issues in its foreign policy, thus fulfilling the promise of strategically working on the bilateral relationship with all countries. Research establishes noticeable facts, for instance, that South Africa’s export trade to the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union account for a combined 35%, and with China around 9%. United States trade with South Africa totalled $25.5 billion in 2022. Exports were $9.3 billion; imports were $16.2 billion. Russia’s trade was $1.3 billion with South Africa in 2023.
With an estimated population of 58 million, South Africa [BRICS member] is the southernmost country in Africa. Energy deficit has crippled industrial operations and supplies for domestic use have largely been reduced. Social discontent, as a result of the multiple crises, has engulfed every corner of South Africa. The World Bank has approved a $1 billion loan to support South Africa’s energy sector which is currently experiencing worse conditions including inadequate funds for overhauling, renovation and upgrading.
At the end of the 15th BRICS summit held in South Africa, the leaders called for a more active use of national currencies in financial transactions as part of the adopted declaration. But the basic arguable question here remains that the well-established BRICS+ format and many new members joining BRICS in 2024 have, over a long period, had profitable trade ties with the United States and Europe.
For fresh members, it is the significance of trade and economic partnership between them and BRICS. In fact, balancing the economic interests of these African countries is as important for this sustainable world order as lasting peace and indivisible security. Therefore, Russia’s leadership has to provide that platform and step-by-step to advance their development-oriented aspirations and streamline the effective full-scale operational activity with BRICS.
Application process
Discussions about the expansion and entry of new members were little addressed until the early 2020s. The leaders and top-ranking diplomats of the founding bloc began the discussions for the expansion of the group, most often referring to 2010, the year South Africa joined after accepting an invitation from China. BRICS is the acronym composed of the first letters of the countries’ names in English. The term BRIC was originally coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill at the University of Manchester, and with South Africa, it was renamed BRICS.
Until today, there is no formal application process as such to join BRICS, but any hopeful government must receive unanimous backing from all existing BRICS members – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – to receive an invitation. In a rush to overcome Western imperialist-economic hegemony on the path of strengthening economic integration and developing economic activities, BRICS members, particularly Russia set to indiscriminately ask for applications it termed ‘friendly allies’ from around the world.
While sharing positive concerns for the group’s expansion, existing conflicting issues among new members have to be taken into serious account, as it may likely influence future genuine policy partnerships. The BRICS bloc has not set any concrete criteria, admission of new candidates is determined by a simple ‘consensus’ – a general agreement at the summit. But experts, as the situation over expansion is increasingly evolving, have beamed warning lights over indiscriminate admission of new members.
In August 2023, it was reported that more than 40 countries had shown interest in joining BRICS, including 22 that had formally applied to join. Historically, since 2017 it was China that insisted on promoting the BRICS+ format to attract a large number of non-participating countries to the organization. BRICS’ scope of activities has indeed widened to include issues relating to education and culture, health and living standards, science and technology, finance and politics. Now, of course, many appreciate others joining in building a partnership with BRICS. But now so frequently, and often asked – quality or quantity?
Monitoring various discussions and developments, Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), in early November suggested that BRICS countries should agree on the rules of the game ‘for the five’ before expanding the organization. The BRICS countries have not yet sufficiently formed a common economic policy, whose most important element should be a new monetary and financial system, in order to accept new countries into the organization.
“Considering BRICS as such an alternative [to the Western model of the global economy], to be honest, is that we have not succeeded in rendering BRICS an effective mechanism for forming new rules of global trade, payment and settlement relations, an alternative financial system, and so on, in order to have begun to engage in expansion,” Shokhin said at the plenary session of the International Financial University Forum.
“For me, it would be better for the five [countries] to develop the rules of the game, and to incorporate new members as members joining not the organization, but the rules of the game,” Shokhin added.
Shokhin noted that the process of coming to a consensus is difficult even with the current BRICS composition, “Even when talking about the interests of India and China in creating an alternative monetary and financial system, we see that this is not an easy matter.” In addition, it will be even more difficult to form common rules with such participants as Iran or Ethiopia.
“With the presence of Ethiopia, for example, Iran and a number of other countries, of course, it will be rather difficult to do [to develop new ‘rules of the game’]. In fact, it would be good for us to have Indonesia as a member of BRICS, because Indonesia is one of the examples of a growing economy, based on a combination of the old principles of inexpensive labour resources and technological progress, among other matters, on the latest technological solutions, including robotics, artificial intelligence, and so on,” Shokhin said, describing the preferred vector to expand BRICS.
“BRICS chairmanship should rather aim at trying to make maximum progress in forming the rules of the game within the organization, so that alternative systems could be proposed; and above all, of course, an alternative monetary and financial system, as well as a payment and settlement system,” Shokhin said, summarizing his position regarding the tasks facing BRICS.
Arguments for Expansion
According to Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Africa should be an essential part of the BRICS expansion, and form the necessary part of the platform for dealing with growing neocolonialism in the continent. South Africa was considered as a conduit and entry point into Africa when it was admitted as the fifth member in 2010. Despite showing large-scale varying rates of economic development, and unresolved long-standing conflicts between them, Ethiopia and Egypt stand as new members on the recommendation by Russia backed by South Africa and China.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar said in an interview with Bloomberg that Nigeria would seek to become a member of the BRICS group within the next two years as part of a new foreign policy push to have its voice heard in important global organizations.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is seeking to assert its leadership role on the continent after years of playing a subordinate in international politics. “Nigeria has come of age to decide for itself who her partners should be and where they should be, being multiple aligned is in our best interest, and therefore it is necessary to transfer cooperation to a new strategic level on the globe,” Tuggar said.
“We need to belong to groups like BRICS, like the G-20 and all these other ones because if there’s a certain criterion, say the largest countries in terms of population and economy should belong, then why isn’t Nigeria part of it?” Tuggar said.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who was invited to attend the G-20 summit in India in September, has said he would push to join as a permanent member. South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized nation, is already a member of the Group of 20 and joined BRICS in 2010, a year after it was formed.
South Sudan’s Ambassador to Moscow Chol Tong Mayay Jang also said that his country is studying the possibility of joining BRICS. The diplomat noted that “given the current geopolitical situation in the world, you see, there are many people who see that BRICS may be the best option.”
The envoy pointed out that “even most of the allies from the Middle East, allies of the West, have already expressed interest to join BRICS.” “Saudi Arabia, which is a very close ally to the US, is now a member of BRICS,” he stressed, adding: “It means that there is something, which is making people now seek a refuge.”
Before we even delve further into the complexity of the possibilities that could happen if those African countries listed to join BRICS, it is important to know what the BRICS agenda has for them or say simply as a show of solidarity, as reports indicated that Central African Republic (CAR) plans to submit an official application to BRICS. Russian Ambassador to the CAR Alexander Bikantov acknowledged in an interview that the CAR continues to develop its relations with the BRICS member states, both at the bilateral level and on various international platforms. “In August 2023, CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera participated in the [15th] BRICS Summit in Johannesburg,” the diplomat noted. “Contacts were established with the International Alliance of BRICS Strategic Projects. As well, the joint intention for opening representative offices in Moscow and Bangui was declared.”
From various points of view, it is convincing to conclude that the aim of the latest irreversible expansion is touted as a large part of the plan for building a ‘multipolar’ world order that will definitely put weight on hitherto subdued voices of the Global South and brings them up to the centre of the world agenda. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the St Petersburg International Cultural Forum – Forum of United Cultures on November 17 underlined this fact that the flexible admission of new members to the BRICS association presents an example of “how a compromise can and needs to be sought and achieved without imposing any viewpoint.”
“These are the organizational principles of BRICS, which is not a bloc, all the more so, it is not a military bloc but it creates conditions for achieving mutual understanding,” Putin underscored the principles for enrolling new members.
President Xi Jinping said at the extraordinary BRICS online summit on the Middle East in November that China, along with other BRICS members, would support Russia’s chairmanship of the organization next year. Xi described the BRICS cooperation mechanism as “an important platform for emerging markets and developing countries to strengthen unity and cooperation and safeguard common interests.”
At the Primakov Readings international forum held in late November, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov remarked the trends shaping the multipolar order are new realities. The unbalanced and unfair model of globalization is becoming a thing of the past. The emergence of new global development centres, the increasing self-awareness of many developing countries and their refusal to blindly follow former colonial powers.
Today, new players representing the Global South and Global East have stepped onto the international political stage. The geopolitical ambitions of the new global players are buttressed by their economic potential. Their numbers are growing, according to Lavrov, and to support his argument referred to President Vladimir Putin who said at the G20 extraordinary summit on November 22, that a “significant portion of global investment, trade and consumer activity is shifting to the Asian, African and Latin American regions, which are home to the majority of the world’s population.”
“Proceeding from the principles of equality and mutual respect, they are reaching a balance of interests via consensus. It’s no surprise that dozens of states want to get closer to BRICS. The number of BRICS members will double. Another 20 states have made similar inquiries or would like to establish special, privileged relations with this association. Next year, Russia will be chairing BRICS. We will do everything we can for BRICS to strengthen its stature in the international arena and to continue playing an increasingly greater role in creating a fair world arrangement,” underlined Lavrov at the Primakov Readings international forum, which is held yearly for politicians, diplomats, experts and academics, originally initiated since 2015.
Lavrov noted a bit earlier, in mid-Autumn, that “the weight, prestige and role of an individual candidate country and, of course, its position in the international arena” were taken into account in decision-making on accepting new members to expand BRICS. An updated list of candidate countries for BRICS membership will be prepared for consideration at the group’s next annual summit in Kazan under Russia’s one-year chairmanship.
South Africa holds the rotating presidency of BRICS until December 2023 and will pass it on to Russia. According to official sources, BRICS members [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] have decided to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to join as full-fledged members of the group from January 1, 2024.
Professor Maurice Okoli is a fellow at the Institute for African Studies and the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences. He is also a fellow at the North-Eastern Federal University of Russia. He is an expert at the Roscongress Foundation and the Valdai Discussion Club.
As an academic researcher and economist with a keen interest in current geopolitical changes and the emerging world order, Maurice Okoli frequently contributes articles for publication in reputable media portals on different aspects of the interconnection between developing and developed countries, particularly in Asia, Africa and Europe. With comments and suggestions, he can be reached via email: markolconsult (at) gmail (dot) com
By Adedapo Adesanya
Pope Francis has died at the age of 88 after battling illness in the last couple of months.
The Vatican announced his demise on Monday morning, a day after Easter.
The pontiff, who was Bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church, became pope in 2013 after his predecessor, Benedict XVI resigned.
His death was announced by Cardinal Kevin Farrell in a statement released by the Vatican.
He said: “Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis.
“At 7.35am this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church.
“He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised.
“With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.”
The process for choosing a new pope – conclave – generally takes place between 15 and 20 days after the death of a pontiff.
Cardinals from around the world will gather in the Vatican and choose the new leader of the Catholic church.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Popularly referred to as Roscongress Foundation, St. Petersburg International Forum (SPIEF) has been its main cornerstone. The SPIEF has, all these years, focused on charting dignified internal economic integration utilizing available resources, both natural and human capital and combined with financial capability, and the possibility of increasing exportable goods to make a better world.
Since its establishment by a decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, it has marked chronological achievements in boosting and strengthening corporate investor networking and entrepreneurship. It has also taken several key initiatives to foster potential entrepreneurship, leveraging the vast opportunities and supporting the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Russian Federation.
According to reports, designing business brands, expand their objective reach to internal Russia’s landscape, and developing markets in neighboring Soviet republics and farther down in Africa, Asia, Europe, United States and Latin America. Ultimately, the SPIEF is unreservedly committed to providing the necessary support to enable both the state-to-state and the private sector to thrive. Building on the previous unerasable achievements, SPIEF’s mid-June 2025 edition will continue to serve as a solid platform, particularly for corporate networking, brainstorming and collaborating on strategies for potential business developments and their subsequent growth.
The architecture of the entire business programme on 18–21 June, has been fixed, and the theme designed as “Shared Values: The Foundation of Growth in a Multipolar World”, reflecting major shifts in international cooperation and the role of universal values in enabling sustainable economic development.
During the discussions, SPIEF participants will assess and review the effectiveness of measures taken, in the past years, to achieve Russia’s economic stability and progress, and concretely to determine further economic development trajectories in the Russian Federation and its footprints in different regions in the world amidst the current geopolitical challenges.
“We are witnessing tectonic shifts in the world. Not only is the economic map changing, but so too, in some sense, are the systems of economic activity and social relations in a number of countries and even intergovernmental blocs. The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is becoming more than just a space for dialogue and the generation of ideas and solutions. It is turning into a platform where new meanings and even new practices emerge that can shape the contours of the future.
“It’s important not only to observe these changes, but to drive them and set their direction. And all of this must happen through a format of meaningful, trust-based and collaborative dialogue,” said Anton Kobyakov, Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation and Executive Secretary of the SPIEF Organizing Committee.
The business programme has been structured around four key thematic pillars, each revealing a different dimension of global and national transformation. The central pillar, “Development Economics: Ensuring Growth”, reflects the logic of new economic thinking. It covers two major areas. “The Global Economy: A New Platform for Global Growth” focuses on the resilience of macroeconomic models, investment strategies, the expansion of logistics routes, and the development of new markets.
Discussions will address the future of international trade and supply chain transformation, the role of small and medium-sized businesses, and the regional and sector-specific dimensions of economic policy. Another major area is “The Russian Economy: A New Level of Growth”, which explores the opportunities and challenges facing the Russian economy amid global shifts.
Topics will include building an effective new-cycle economic model, strengthening the resilience of domestic industries, and developing priority sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, and high technology. This track will also cover Russia’s innovation potential, its integration into global economic processes, investment attraction strategies, and the strengthening of the domestic market.
These themes are directly linked to technological sovereignty and innovation. The “Technology: Pursuing Leadership” pillar will focus on key directions in technological development from AI and automation to independence in microelectronics, new materials, energy, and cybersecurity. At the core is the formation of a sustainable and competitive technological base capable of ensuring the long-term development of the economy and society.
Technological advancement is impossible without a stable value system and strong cultural identity. That’s why the third pillar, “The Living Environment”, will address information sovereignty, cultural identity, social cohesion, and international humanitarian cooperation. Participants will explore how meaning is shaped and communicated in the media landscape, the mechanisms of trust in the digital age, and the role of tradition and historical memory.
This naturally leads into the fourth pillar, “The Individual in a New World”, which will focus on quality of life, health, education, family well-being, urban development, and personal fulfilment. Special attention will be paid to youth and women’s participation in the economy, new employment formats, and managing human capital as a key resource for the future.
The programme will also include sector-specific and international events that have already proven to be essential gathering points for the professional community. Among them are the SCO and BRICS Business Forums, the B20 Forum, the SME Forum, the Creative Industries Forum, and the ‘Ensuring Drug Security’ Russian Pharmaceutical Forum.
The traditional format of business dialogues with representatives from China, India, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, ASEAN, the CIS, and the EAEU will support the expansion of bilateral and multilateral ties, showcase investment projects, and explore industrial and scientific cooperation opportunities. Additional events will include business breakfasts with leaders of major companies, project presentations, public interviews, agreement signings, and an exhibition programme.
This year’s SPIEF will also host the General Assembly of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), as well as the Day of the Future International Youth Economic Forum. The latter is supported by Friends for Leadership, an organization accredited by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which brings together young leaders, entrepreneurs and experts from over 100 countries. It was created by the Roscongress Foundation following the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students in 2017.
From the above discussion, reiterating that the theme, “Shared Values: The Foundation of Growth in a Multipolar World”, reflects profound shifts in the framework of international cooperation. Rapidly evolving economic and political processes are transforming the global landscape. The current changes demand broad expert discussion, and SPIEF, as one of the largest business forums, provides a platform for an open dialogue. In addition, it aims to become a space where new ideas are born, shaped into strategy, and transformed into real-world processes that can help shape the future.
The Roscongress Foundation was established in 2007 with the aim of facilitating the development of Russia’s economic potential, promoting its national interests, and strengthening the country’s image. One of the roles of the Foundation is to comprehensively evaluate, analyse, and cover issues on the Russian and global economic agendas. It also offers administrative services, provides promotional support for business projects and attracting investment, helps foster social entrepreneurship and charitable initiatives. The Roscongress Foundation was established in pursuance of a decision by the President of the Russian Federation.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
With geopolitical situation heightening, trade wars are also becoming increasingly prominent. The 47th United States President Donald Trump has introduced trade tariffs, splashed it over the world. China, an Asian trade giant and an emerging economic superpower, has its highest shared.
South Africa, struggling with its fragile foreign alliances, is seriously navigating the new United States economic policy and trade measures, at least to maintain its membership in the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) which is going to expire in September 2025.
It is a well-known fact that AGOA waived duties on most commodities from Africa in order to boost trade in American market. The AGOA also offers many African countries trade preferences in the American market, earning huge revenues for their budgets. Financial remittances back to Africa also play mighty roles across the continent from the United States.
That however, the shifting geopolitical situation combined with Trump’s new trade policies and Russia’s rising interest in Africa, the overarching message for African leaders and business corporate executives is to review the level of degree how to appreciably approach and strengthen trade partnership between Africa and Russia.
The notion of a new global order and frequently phrased multipolar world, indicating the construction of a fairer architecture of interaction, in practical terms, has become like a relic and just as a monumental pillar. Even as we watch the full-blown recalibration of power, the geopolitical reshuffling undoubtedly creates the conditions for new forms of cooperation.
In this current era of contradictions and complexities we are witnessing today, we must rather reshape and redefine rules and regulations to facilitate bilateral and multilateral relations between African countries and Russia, if really Russia seeks to forge post-Soviet strategic economic cooperation with Africa.
In fact, post-Soviet in the sense that trade is not concentrate on state-to-state but also private – including, at least, medium scale businesses. The new policy dealing with realities of the geopolitical world, distinctively different from Soviet-era slogans and rhetorics of ‘international friendship and solidarity’ of those days.
Bridging Africa and Russia, at least in the literal sense of the word, necessitates partial departure from theoretical approach to implementing several bilateral and multilateral decisions, better still agreements reached at previous summits and conferences during the past decade.
Understandably Africa has a stage, Russia termed ‘the struggle against neo-colonial tendencies’ and mounting the metal walls against the ‘scrambling of resources’ across Africa. Some experts argued that Africa, at the current stage, has to develop its regions, modernize most the post-independence-era industries to produce exportable goods, not only for domestic consumption. Now the emphasis is on pushing for prospects of a single continental market, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
This initiative, however, must be strategically and well-coordinated well, and here I suggest integration and cooperation starting at country-wide basis to regional level before it broadly goes to the entire continent, consisting 54 independent states.
These are coordinated together as African Union (AU), which in January 2021 initiated the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). With this trading goals in mind, Africa as a continent has to integrate, promote trade and economic cooperation, engage in investment and development. In that direction, genuine foreign partners are indiscriminately required, foreign investment capital in essential for collaboration as well as their entrepreneurial skills and technical expertise.
For instance, developing relations with Asian giants such China and India, the European Union and the United States. A number of African countries are shifting to the BRICS orbit, in search for feasible alternative opportunities, for the theatrical trade drama. In the Eurasian region and the former Soviet space, Kazakhstan and Russia stand out, as potential partners, for Africa.
Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, at the podium before the staff and students at Moscow State Institute of International Affairs in September, that trade between Russia and Africa would grow further as more and more African partners continued to show interest in having Russians in the economic sectors in Africa. This provides greater competition between the companies from Western countries, China, and Russia. With competition for developing mineral resources in Africa, it is easier and cheaper for African colleagues to choose partners.
As far back in October 2010, Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry posted an official report on its website that traditional products from least developed countries (including Africa) would be exempted from import tariffs. The legislation stipulated that the traditional goods are eligible for preferential customs and tariffs treatment.
Thereafter, Minister Sergey Lavrov has reiterated, in speeches, trade preferences for African exporters, but terribly failed to honour these thunderous promises. Notwithstanding the above granting trade preferences, there prevailing multitude of questions relating to the pathways of improving trade transactions, and removing obstacles including those Soviet-era rules and regulations.
Logistics is another torny hurdle. Further to this, Russian financial institutions can offer credit support that will allow to localize Russian production in Africa’s industrial zones, especially southern and eastern African regions that show some stability and have good investment and business incentives.
In order to operate more effectively, Russians have to risk by investing, recognize the importance of cooperation on key investment issues and to work closely on the challenges and opportunities on the continent. On one hand, analyzing the present landscape of Africa, Russia can export its technology and compete on equal terms with China, India and other prominent players. On the other hand, Russia lacks the competitive advantage in terms of finished industrial (manufactured) products that African consumers obtain from Asian countries such as China, India, Japan and South Korea.
Compared to the United States and Europe, Russia did very little after the Cold War and it is doing little even today in Africa. On 27th–28th July 2023, St Petersburg hosted the second Russia-Africa summit. At the plenary session, President Vladimir Putin underscored the fact that there was, prior to the collapse of the Soviet, there were over 330 large infrastructure and industrial facilities in Africa, but most were lost. Regarding trade, Putin, regrettably, noted Russia’s trade turnover with the African countries increased in 2022 and reached almost US$18 billion, (of course, that was 2022).
Arguably, Russia’s economic presence is invisible across Africa. It currently has insignificant trade statistics. Until the end of the first quarter of 2025, Russia still has a little over $20 billion trade volume with Africa. Statistics on Africa’s trade with foreign countries vary largely.
For example, the total United States two-way trade in Africa has actually fallen off in recent years, to about $60 billion, far eclipsed by the European Union with over $240 billion, and China more than $280 billion, according to a website post by the Brookings Institution.
According to the African Development Bank, Africa’s economy is growing faster than those of any other regions. Nearly half of Africa is now classified as middle income countries, the numbers of Africans living below the poverty line fell to 39 percent as compared to 51 percent in 2023, and around 380 million of Africa’s 1.4 billion people are now earning good incomes – rising consumerism – that makes trade profitable.
Nevertheless, there is great potential, as African leaders and entrepreneurial community are turing to Russia for multifaceted cooperation due to the imperialist approach of the United States and its hegemonic stand triggered over the years, and now with Trump new trade tariffs and Washington’s entire African policy.
China has done its part, Russia has to change and adopt new rules and regulations, pragmatic approach devoid of mere frequent rhetorics. It is important discussing these points, and to shamelessly repeat that both Russia and Africa have to make consistent efforts to look for new ways, practical efforts at removing existing obstacles that have impeded trade over the years.
Sprawling from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, Russia is a major great power and has the potential to become a superpower. Russia can regain part of its Soviet-era economic power and political influence in present-day Africa.
Certainly, the expected superpower status has to be attained by practical multifaceted sustainable development and by maintaining an appreciably positive relations with Africa. We have come a long way, especially after the resonating first summit (2019 and high-praised second summit (2023), several bilateral agreements are yet to be implemented. The forthcoming Russia – Africa Partnership summit is slated for 2026, inside Africa and preferably in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Kestér Kenn Klomegâh is a frequent and passionate contributor. During his professional career as a researcher specialising in Russia-Africa policy, which spans nearly two decades, he has been detained and questioned several times by Russian federal security services for reporting facts. Most of his well-resourced articles are reprinted in a number of reputable foreign media.
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