World
Russia, Tanzania Navigating the Crossroads
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Given the rapidly changing geopolitics, Africa is increasingly becoming one of the strategic pillars in Russia’s policy. The Intergovernmental Russia-Tanzania Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation held its meetings in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, the venue for comprehensive discussions and for a critical review of the current Russian-Tanzanian relations. The focus was re-examining the main economic areas of cooperation, achievements, obstacles and future perspectives.
Russia and Tanzania have had good relations. The often-praised bilateral relations have deep historical roots dating back to the Soviet period. But much noticeably fell after Soviet’s collapse in 1991. Notwithstanding that, Russia and Tanzania have, in past decade, taken steps to raise the bilateral relations. In spite of multitude obstacles, both have maintained political dialogue as a basis for developing economic, trade, technological partnerships, educational and cultural cooperation.
Increasing Agricultural Products
On May 13, the Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation, meeting in St. Petersburg, reviewed emerging opportunities for large-scale investments, particularly in the employment generating economic sectors. Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, who co-chaired the meeting with Planning and Investment Minister Kitila Mkumbo, noted Tanzania’s geographical location as a single window for Russian products entering the East African market. More than 40 Russian companies are currently interested in exporting animal products and a few others to Tanzania and to East Africa region.
According to 2024 demographic report, Tanzania has a population of around 62 million, making it the most populous country located entirely south of the equator. What is important here is the fact that Tanzanian economy is heavily based on agriculture. It has a vast arable land for farming. Reports further indicate that irrigation farming is the commonest across the country. Local agriculture employs half of the workforce. Therefore, the emphasis should rather be on investing in the local agriculture in order to ensure food security.
In a further assessment of the situation, there are very few resources for Tanzania in terms of credit services, infrastructure or availability to improved agricultural technologies, which further exacerbates hunger and poverty in the country, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As a result, Tanzania ranks 159 out of 187 countries in poverty, according to the United Nation’s Human Development Index (2024).
Based on these weaknesses, as many as 40 Russian companies have expressed readiness and already doubling efforts with the hope to diversify exports of agricultural produce including meat, fat-and-oil products, dairy and fish products to Tanzania. The participants emphasized the country could be a conduit and entry-gate through which to reach East African region. In fact, previous agreements that were signed provided the legitimate framework and a driving force for developing this partnership. In assessing the trade dynamics, Russia targets an estimated US$15 billion from agricultural exports, while last year it earned over US$7 billion, according to Agroexport Center of the Ministry of Agriculture. In short, Russia is absolutely certain to earn huge income from increasing its various agricultural products to Tanzania, and using the country as a gateway to East Africa.
Pharmaceutical Business
More than ever, Tanzania, like other African countries, has been actively advancing its diplomacy incorporating the health sector. In pursuit of taking advantage of incentives provided by the government, India and a number of foreign investors have achieved marked successes in the health sphere. These foreign investors, while embracing the reconfiguration of world politics sometimes get to the crossroads on one hand. But on the other hand, the corporate investments consistently remain their economic priorities and strive to get full-scale admirable results. Most often, do practical negotiations and renegotiations, determine financial sources and outline business policies which usually form the core points in forging relations with Tanzania.
Today, China and India, for instance, have set up manufacturing hubs in Tanzania and other African countries, fostering employment and skills development for the youth. Generally Tanzania, like many other African countries, is seemingly taking the existential chance to analyze feasibility and forms of engagement in their bilateral cooperation with key external powers. The two Asian countries, China and India have considerably done a lot in this sector. With health infrastructure, China built the Africa CDC headquarters in Addis Ababa, and further engage in manufacturing and distributing medical products as well as offering a wide range of medical services.
In a similar vein, Indian engagement in East Africa’s health sector is multifaceted. After China, India is the third largest investor in this health sector in Africa. In a simple comparison, Russia has a staggering position, still forward-looking to play a model-role in health-care development in the continent. Russia is yet to assert its position despite its official declarations to support Africa in the health sectors during the first and second Russia-Africa Summits.
Recreation and Tourism
The Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation delegations, in St. Petersburg meeting. also discussed cooperation on tourism, including the prospects of resuming direct flights between Moscow and Dar es Salaam. The two parties signed an intergovernmental agreement on air services in 2024. The negotiating officials, however, underscored restoring air connection as an essential step toward boosting the expected economic potentials and promoting people-to-people interaction, as well as consolidating travel and tourism business. For example, Tanzania has its national carrier managed by the Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL). It operates passenger and cargo flights to destinations in the Middle East and Asia. Until today, Egypt Air and Ethiopian Airlines are flying between Africa and Russia. There is still a huge gap in the aviation sector, particularly Russia to establish the connectivity with Western, Central and Southern Africa. Absence of regular flights, keeps Africa so remote (segregated) from Russia, especially in this expected resonating ‘multipolar’ world.
Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, who co-chaired the meeting, reiterated Russia was prepared to send a delegation with business representatives to Tanzania in June-July to determine formats for cooperation in this aviation business. “Our companies are prepared, as they say, to go in and work seriously and for the long term. In tourism, the top priority is to resume direct air connections,” Reshetnikov noted.
In June of last year, an agreement on air transport was signed between the Russian Government and the Government of Tanzania. “It is essential to finalize all procedures as quickly as possible to bring the agreement into effect,” the Minister of Economic Development added.
In fact, Tanzania is not alone requesting for establishing air routes to Moscow. Ugandan Vice President Jessica Alupo said, in Sept. 2024, that Uganda was interested in developing air service with Russia and in the launch of direct flights that will facilitate the movement of people, goods and investment. At a meeting with Russia’s Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko on the sidelines of the Eurasian Women’s Forum held September 18th-20th in St. Petersburg, Jessica Alupo noted the potentials of Uganda’s tourism sector and fixing hotels in Moscow.
Over the past decades, the absence of reliable airlines has constrained the ability to fully capitalize on growing regional and continental air hub. African destinations are inaccessible, while recreation and tourism business are seriously hampered due to Russia’s hyperbolic rhetoric and lack of the desire to open up to Africa. Many African cities are simply not gateways for tourism, and this hampers economic cooperation.
Can Tanzania Join BRICS?
Closer ties between Tanzania and BRICS are inevitable, Russian Ambassador to the African country Andrey Avetisyan said in an interview with TASS in June 2024. “Some of the BRICS members are Tanzania’s strategic partners, significantly contributing to its economic development based on President Samia Hassan’s policy of economic diplomacy. The topic of Tanzania’s BRICS accession has not come up yet but the country’s closer ties with the group are inevitable, especially now that membership has been granted to Ethiopia, a country Tanzania cooperates with within the African Union and the East African Community,” Avetisyan pointed out.
Learning From Policy Mistakes
By learning from past mistakes and analyzing geopolitical changes, Russia is only now gradually opening its borders to Africa. Most often decorative rhetoric dominates official circles, and implementing policy initiatives reached at the meetings and conferences and summits are inconsistently dealt with at snail-pace in the partnership. This Russia’s business model impacts negatively on economic growth in the continent, leaves space (vacuum) for Western, European, Asian and Arab competitors. Tanzanian delegation made these points explicitly understandable, and further made a passionate appeal for actionable steps as they renewed investment possibility in various economic sectors. Notwithstanding the lapses and weaknesses, both parties noted there must be a practical turning point to stimulate the continent’s economy. That is partly what foreign relations aim at achieving with African countries.
In official statements, the Russian leadership endorses economic partnership with Tanzania, but there much lies on practical implementation. The early May (month) meetings in St. Petersburg indicated how frequent voices have been raised on opportunities, challenges and historical relations dating back from Soviet times. But the present trends are quite different, not just rhetoric but concretely using such platforms to stimulate investment and for showing appreciative achievements.
For Tanzania and the rest of Africa, the 21st century should be seen as a turning period to promote trade with the industrialised world in order to develop our region, improve living standards and bridge the development gap across Africa, a few policy analysts told this article author. Analysts also say Africa should consider trade as an important tool to transform and diversify its economy using its decades-old relationships with Russia.
Strategic Tasks for Future
State-to-State corporate deals feature prominently in the relations, but it is also necessary to encourage possibly an entrepreneurial culture and private-sectoral approach to the economy. It is enough for Russia’s meteoric criticisms and algorithmic propaganda against western hegemony in Tanzania and across Africa. The stark reality is that African countries, including Tanzania in East Africa, need genuine investment and not anti-western slogans and rhetoric. The relationship and economic ties are full of declarations and unfulfilled expectations. There are noticeable gaps between bilateral agreements signed years ago and what have positively been achieved on the ground to measure the legitimacy of cooperation.
The Russian-Tanzanian relations, and others in Africa, have been littered with so many bilateral meetings and diplomatic talks these several years. In this context, Russia and Tanzania have to frankly acknowledge the simple fact that time for polarized rhetoric is long over. For this analytical review, enough is enough for now! It is rather a critical time to step up practical efforts and think of innovative ways to implement policy decisions, in spite of the existing challenges.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Russia’s system of foreign students’ admission is currently experiencing a completely different shape, due to the rapidly shifting geopolitical reality. The emerging trends are closely connected with increasing the number of highly interested applicants rather than the quality of education. The geopolitical shift is pushing Russia to make education for young Africans an ultimate priority. The quota campaign has already begun as the figure compares favourably with previous benchmarks but, to some considerable extent, noticeable challenges are currently affecting enrollment from Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Despite that, general interest in Russian education among foreign nationals is increasing; the quota campaign confirms this trend. Last year, for instance, there were about 144,000 registrations in Rossotrudnichestvo’s Education in Russian system. The number has exceeded 160,000 in 2026. What is important here is that Russia shows preparedness to get more students from developing countries, especially from Africa and uses it as a factor for influencing its foreign policy in the region.
Regarding educational initiatives, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in conjunction with relevant agencies and organisations are active in Africa. Noticeably, Russia is developing and expanding the existing, successfully operating cooperation in the sphere of education. In fact, priority is given to projects in the field of education and training of professional personnel for African countries. Currently, over 37,000 students from Africa are studying at Russian universities. Reports say a gradual increase in the number of scholarships for African citizens and the expansion of the range of professional training programs will provide a strong incentive for further promoting education at Russian universities.
This will continue to actively strengthen inter-university ties with African partners, including through specialised umbrella organisations such as the Russian-African Network University, the Consortium of Technical Universities “Nadra Africa” based at the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University, the Russian-African Network Transport University, and the Consortium of Russian Universities Working in West Africa based at the NGO “Centre for Public Diplomacy.”
Reports further indicated that the Rossotrudnichestvo representative offices—the Russian Science and Culture Centres—operating in eight African countries, as well as the Open Education Centres operating under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of Education in 31 African countries, serve as a solid foundation for our humanitarian presence in Africa. They serve as conduits for the Russian language and culture on the continent. It is, however, hoped that their number would only increase in the subsequent years.
While addressing the staff and students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated Russia’s readiness to cooperate actively in the sustainable economic development and to strengthen efforts at training the needed specialists and professionals for Africa. After the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991, there were problems sustaining relations with Africa. Then, after more than a decade, Russia started to return to Africa. This process has been ongoing for the past 15 years, according to the top Russian diplomat.
According to Lavrov, these past few years have been characterised by frequent interactions between Russian and African Foreign Ministers, plethora of MoUs were signed that set out the broad parameters of cooperation. Russia’s Education Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry have raised the quotas for many African countries, the highest given to Angola, Ethiopia, Namibia and Mozambique, and South Africa.
According to a report posted on the MFA website in August, for instance, some 1,120 Angolans have enrolled, on Russian scholarships or grants, at various institutes and universities throughout the Russian Federation. Figures for other African countries are available on the official information portal of the ministry.
Besides state-sponsored students, Russia’s Education Ministry has also launched a large-scale educational campaign targeting the recruitment of private foreign students into its educational institutions across the Russian Federation. The program is to be implemented until 2025, which has a website (studyinrussia) translated into different languages, seeks to boost the popularity and improve its image abroad.
Undoubtedly, Russia aims at strengthening the next generation of pro-Russian elites who will help promote its interests, including long-term ones in their home countries. With this in mind, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ultimately, hope to improve the efficiency of “soft power” in Africa, though not to the levels during the Soviet era.
Understandably, Russia is now targeting Africa’s fast-growing population as a huge potential market for knowledge transfer and export education. Rossiyskaya Gazeta, a widely circulated Russian daily newspaper, reported that Russia has been focusing on the young population in developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, targeting the elite and middle class in these markets for the export of education, which has great potential.
The newspaper reported on the advantages of multiculturalism and cross-cultural interactive activities paving the way for integration in Russian society. As far back as 2023, Russia’s Federation Council and State Duma (upper and lower houses of parliament) passed a bill. That bill was finally signed into law, allowing foreign students the right to employment, a replica of the work and study model in Western and European countries.
Professor Viktor Sadovnichy, Rector of Moscow State University and Chairman of the Russian Rectors’ Association, an organisation that unites more than 700 heads of higher education institutions, argued that education and demography are interconnected; developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America have growing middle classes. “This favours the export of our education; it has great potential cooperating in the education sphere, it could serve as a huge market – training young professionals that are in demand on the labour market,” Sadovnichy said, addressing a plenary meeting of the Russian Rectors’ Association at Peter the Great St Petersburg State Polytechnic University.
Professor Natalia Vlasova, Deputy Rector at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of the Ural State University of Economics in Yekaterinburg, explained that many African countries are developing rapidly, and the African elites and the growing middle-class have great potential for sponsoring their children’s education abroad. “In the times of the Soviet Union, African countries were strategic partners, and now we should reactivate these relations because in the near future they will have big economic and political power. This could, indeed, be a huge market and has the business potential,” she noted assertively.
An educational survey released in September 2024, divided into five major groups, said Russia has made significant efforts at improving teaching (the learning environment), research, citations (research influence), knowledge transfer, and international outlook (staff, students, research) in the educational field, according to the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
One year after launching a continental initiative designed to make excellence in public governance the foundation of a new drive to transform Africa, LEAD, the Africa CEO Forum’s pan-African leadership programme, takes stock of its first cohort and announces the launch of its second class. Built around a community of senior public decision-makers committed to modernising the state and to the continent’s digital transformation, this new cohort gathers for three days, from 28 to 30 August 2026, on the campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Rabat, Morocco.
A second cohort that confirms the programme’s durability
For its second class, LEAD brings together 50 fellows, senior public decision-makers engaged in the design and implementation of the continent’s economic and social policies. Over three days, participants take part in collective and collaborative working sessions, peer exchanges and meetings with figures from the public, business and academic spheres, in order to compare their practices and build shared responses to the major challenges of governance.
Speakers include Mehdi Jomaa, former Head of Government of Tunisia, Donald Kaberuka, Managing Partner & Founder, SouthBridge Group, and former President of the African Development Bank, Serge Ekue, President of the West African Development Bank (BOAD), Sanjay Jain, co-creator of India Stack and Director of Digital Public Infrastructure, Gates Foundation, and Mauricio Cardenas, Professor of Professional Practice in Global Leadership, Columbia SIPA, and former Finance Minister of Colombia (2012-2018).
They share their reform experience, their public policy trade-offs and their view of continental priorities. Throughout the programme, the cohort benefits from the dedicated support of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Asafo & Co, BOAD, BCG and the African Development Bank, LEAD partners that have chosen to invest in the transformation of African public action.
LEAD, a pan-African community serving public action
Created by the AFRICA CEO FORUM, LEAD is a leadership programme whose ambition is to reposition Africa’s administrative elite as a driver of reform, of performance and of dialogue with all the continent’s stakeholders.
Designed for senior African public decision-makers, LEAD sets out to build a lasting community of public officials able to share their experience, compare their practices and build common solutions to the major economic, technological and institutional transformations under way in Africa. That community is structured around three pillars: modernizing the state, improving public services, and strengthening cooperation between governments, development institutions and private-sector players.
From fellows to alumni: a long-term initiative
Made up of 36 fellows drawn from a range of administrations and institutions and representing 24 countries across the continent, LEAD’s first cohort demonstrated the quality and the potential of this community from its very first year. In less than twelve months, six of its members have taken a significant step forward: two have been appointed ministers, two have moved into strategic positions at the highest level of the state and two have been promoted to chief executive roles. These moves, which account for 16.7% of the first class, show the role LEAD plays as an accelerator of impact within African administrations.
By bringing together a new cohort of fellows every year, each of them joining the LEAD alumni community, the initiative follows a long-term trajectory: in time, to unite several hundred African public decision-makers around a shared culture of transparency, performance and regional cooperation.
A first year devoted to public service and digital public infrastructure
Throughout the year, the fellows devoted their work to strengthening African public action, to make excellence in public governance a central lever of transformation. An awareness campaign, run as part of Africa Public Service Day, brought to light those who, within the continent’s administrations and institutions, are concretely transforming public policy and improving the services offered to citizens.
Members of the cohort also took part in a special round table held in Kigali during the ACF 2026, in order to carry their thinking to a wider community of public and private leaders. That forum reinforced LEAD’s role as a platform for dialogue between the administrative elite and the continent’s economic players. Digital public infrastructure (DPI) formed the main thread of this first year of work.
Discussions covered issues at the heart of the digital sovereignty of African states: digital identity, payments, secure data exchange, interoperability, governance and the protection of citizens. This work examined the conditions under which African states are developing, in some cases, and can develop, in others, shared, open infrastructure robust enough to improve the quality of public services while supporting local innovation and preserving the capacity of public authorities to set the rules of the game.
A white paper to move from consuming technology to creating value
This year of work concludes with the publication, in collaboration with BCG, LEAD’s Knowledge Partner, of a white paper on Africa’s place in the digital economy and in artificial intelligence. With the digital economy still accounting for around 5% of African GDP, against close to 15% worldwide, the paper calls on the continent to shift from a logic of technology consumption to one of value creation.
The white paper identifies three structuring priorities for African public actors:
- Building shared digital infrastructure that serves as the backbone of public services and private innovation.
- Pooling investment in order to reach critical mass and avoid the fragmentation of efforts across the continent.
- Favouring open and interoperable architectures, with trust and governance built in by design, so as to protect citizens while stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The white paper is available here to all public decision-makers, technical partners and institutions concerned.
“LEAD’s first cohort confirms a simple conviction: Africa already has the women and men capable of profoundly transforming public action. Our responsibility, either with our partners, is to give them, at pan-African level, a space in which to compare experience, build common solutions and bring forward a new generation of public policy. With this second cohort, we want to accelerate the move from ambition to execution, in particular on digital public infrastructure and artificial intelligence, two decisive issues for sovereignty, for the effectiveness of the state and for value creation across the continent,” says Amir Ben Yahmed, President of the Africa CEO Forum.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
Africa is set to make history as it hosts the World Public Summit for the first time, with Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, welcoming global leaders and changemakers from July 29–30, 2026, for the landmark gathering under the theme “New World: Africa in Shaping a Shared Future.”
The inaugural African edition of the World Public Summit marks a significant milestone in the continent’s growing role in shaping international dialogue on governance, sustainable development, human-centred leadership and global cooperation.
Hosted by the World Peoples Assembly in partnership with African and international organisations, the summit will convene government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, journalists, youth representatives, civil society organisations and cultural leaders from across Africa and around the world.
According to Andrey Belyaninov, General Secretary of the World Peoples Assembly, “the Summit is not just a meeting—it is a space for unity. A space where the ‘values that unite us’ come to life: respect for people, openness to the world, responsibility for the future, and a commitment to creation.
“Today, we understand more clearly than ever: the future cannot be built alone. It is born in dialogue, in trust, in the ability to listen to one another and to act together.”
The programme begins on July 29 with a series of high-level roundtables and expert discussions covering Pan-African economic integration, civil society, education, scientific cooperation, cultural diplomacy and humanitarian partnerships.
The opening plenary, “Values, Development and Partnership as the Basis of a Sustainable and Just World,” will explore how African values—including Ubuntu—can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable global future. Discussions will also focus on youth leadership, innovation, civil society, ethical AI, public initiatives and international partnerships.
The summit will also showcase Africa’s creativity and innovation through the “Innovations for the Future” exhibition, the contemporary African art exhibition “Unity,” and the international exhibition “The World Paints Happiness.”
Another featured initiative is “The Zambezi River: Economy, Society, Soul,” an international interdisciplinary project exploring the river’s socioeconomic importance across Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, highlighting the shared heritage and development potential of one of Africa’s most important waterways.
The event will conclude with the adoption of the African Communiqué, reflecting the summit’s shared vision for stronger international cooperation, sustainable development and people-centred leadership.
Tsegaye Chama, General Secretary of the Global Black Centre, promised that, “The Summit will be delivered with exceptional distinction, reflecting the magnitude and spirit of the World Peoples Assembly. It embodies a unity that is not transactional, but purposeful and conscious, a unity that shapes new contours for a world that works for all peoples of the World.”
As delegates prepare to arrive in Addis Ababa, anticipation continues to build for what promises to be one of Africa’s most significant international gatherings of 2026—one that will place the continent firmly at the centre of global conversations about the future.
