RUSAL Receives Guinea’s Best Company Awards for Fight against COVID-19

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

Russian Aluminium, a leading global aluminium producer, announced early February that its representative office in Guinea was awarded the Guinea Best Company Awards for its contribution to the fight against COVID-19 and socially responsible policy during the pandemic.

Since 2010, the Guinea Best Company Awards have been presented annually by the Think Tank of COPE-Guinée (Coordination of Guinean non-governmental organisations for the promotion of excellence) to 50 enterprises in Guinea and West Africa that have demonstrated significant achievements across various fields such as industry, economics and public life.

Assessing the results of 2020, the COPE-Guinée named Alexander Larionov, RUSAL General Director in Guinea, among the top 50 managers of commercial enterprises in the region.

The results were based on indicators such as compliance with high standards of Corporate Social Responsibility during the pandemic, including the preservation of jobs, wages, social payments, investment projects, as well as the special contribution of enterprises to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Guinea.

The award ceremony was held in Conakry under the chairmanship of the High Representative of the Head of State, Claude Kory Kondiano, who noted in his speech: “Entrepreneurs and businessmen play a leading role in the development of Guinea, which has made significant progress in many areas over the past 10 years under the leadership of President Alpha Conde. Today’s ceremony is a great opportunity to pay tribute to the best of those who create jobs and support the national well-being of our country.”

Commenting on the RUSAL management in Guinea’s award for its achievements in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility and the fight against COVID-19, Yakov Itskov, Director of RUSAL’s Alumina Business, said: “For 20 years, RUSAL has been successfully developing its business in Guinea and has always helped the country’s residents in difficult times.

“In 2015, we built a state-of-the-art epidemiology centre in Guinea to fight the Ebola epidemic, and in 2020, we opened another multi-functional infectious disease treatment centre to counter COVID-19. We will continue to provide systematic support to Guinean healthcare, guided by the principles of social responsibility of business.”

In addition, in July 2020, RUSAL delivered medical humanitarian cargo intended to combat the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. The cargo included dozens of medicines, as well as modern medical equipment and consumables for the treatment of patients with coronavirus. In November 2020, RUSAL supplied two new ambulances to Guinea, both equipped for providing emergency medical care and resuscitation of patients, including ventilators.

RUSAL was the first private company to assist Africa in fighting against the spread of dangerous infections. During the Ebola epidemic outbreak in Kindia in 2015, RUSAL built the Centre for Epidemic and Microbiological Research and Treatment (CEMRT).

The centre has since been acknowledged nationally as one of the sites for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in Guinea, and received the first patients with coronavirus. In June 2020, the new multifunctional medical centre for the treatment of infectious diseases was constructed in Fria.

RUSAL has been operating in the Republic of Guinea since 2001, and remains as one of the largest international investors in the country. In Guinea, RUSAL owns Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia (CBK), as well as the Friguia bauxite and alumina production facility.

In addition, RUSAL is continuing with the implementation of a project aimed at developing the world’s largest bauxite deposit Dian-Dian in Boke. The proven reserves of this field amount to 564 million tons.