The East African bloc has expressed interest to pursue a regional cooperation with Russia. The partnership will focus on energy and infrastructure development through the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
In meeting with Ambassador of Russia to Djibouti, Mikhail Golovanov, IGAD secretary Mahboub Maalim noted the cooperation will concentrate on management of resources including energy.
At the same time, the collaboration will address issues of economic and infrastructure development as well as combating violent extremism.
The cooperation will further Russian agenda in Africa. Russia has shown interest in Africa especially in trade and energy.
According to Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, Russia and African countries should pursue and implement future plans together. The friendship and solid historical relation, according to Medvedev will cement plans of the two spheres.
At a conference by the Afrexim bank, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Russia and Africa are confidently moving along the road of comprehensively expanding Russian-African ties.
The Russian Export Center (REC) predicts that the volume of Russian-African trade relations will double within the next 3-4 years.
