Africa is one of the key directions of the Russian foreign policy and during the last decade our multilateral partnership with the African countries has been greatly enhanced.Politically this has been demonstrated by Dmitri Medvedev’s visit to Nigeria, Namibia and Angola – for the first time in history of the bilateral relations. It gave the right impulse to the overall development of the ties with the region.
On December 14, 2009, an Extended meeting of the State Duma’s Committee on International Affairs took place. It was dedicated to the relations between the Russian Federation and African countries. Mr. Wamisho was among the speakers that presented their point of view at the meeting.
The International Parliamentary Conference “Russia-Africa: Horizons of Cooperation” took place in Moscow on June 15-16th, 2010. Deputies of the State Duma of Russia, members of the Federation Council of Russia, deputies of the African national parliaments, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, ambassadors of the African countries, representatives of other governmental institutions, business community and experts from Russia and 39 African states met for discussions in friendly atmosphere.
Speech by Dr. Andrey KLIMOV, Deputy Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs of the Russian State Duma, April, 2010Fifty years ago, when most of the African countries received their independence, the Russian people were among the first, who gave the real support to the new states of the awaken continent. You can see the evidences of the Russian cooperation with Africa since the 1960-ies not only looking at the Aswan electric power station in Egypt or the Russian helicopters in the African sky, but also hear when you speak Russian to thousands of African doctors or engineers and they understand you easily without interpreters.
What is your impression of the visit to Russia?
I'm excited we found for us more than we expected, the Lukoil company is technically sound, financially strong they've actually dance on the work before. Their control system is perfect there environmental policy of the zero discharge principal is acceptable to us. More especially they have good relationship with the government, they are very responsible. They are the highest paying tax company and that shows me that we are good partner coming together.
How do you perceive the cooperation between Russia and South Africa?
- I think that the relations between our countries are developing very well and this is partly demonstrated by the high-level delegations’ visits. In September 2006 former President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has visited South Africa and in March 2007 – former Prime-Minister Mikhail Fradkov. Their visits were historic for us and for the whole Africa.
According to the President of the Bundestag Committee on Legal Affairs, Siegfried Kauder, it is necessary to oblige the media to restrain themselves in a situation that is happening now when the security threat is particularly great. If the media reported that some of the objects are at particular risk, it can become the aim for terrorists.
On Thursday, Nov. 18 Ireland hold talks with representatives of the EU, IMF and Central Europe. The country is in a dire financial situation, and it needs assistance from the EU. The Government of Ireland has refused to raise corporate taxes in response to the financial assistance that it will provide the EU and the IMF.
