Russia’s Financial Participation in Afreximbank and Prospects of Non-Primary Commodities Exports to Africa

Author:

Irina Abramova, Leonid Fituni

Abstract:

The article fills in the gaps in research of Russia’s participation in African international organizations as a means of stimulating non-primary exports and solving the problems of accelerating economic development and modernizing the economic potential of the Russian Federation. It is shown that active international economic cooperation in the financial and banking spheres will contribute to the efficiency growth of the communications, technologies and innovations, will increase the susceptibility of the domestic economy and society to innovations, as well as boost the development of a knowledge-based business, the creation of tools for supporting translational research, the organization of a technology transfer system and protection of intellectual property. The authors argue that, at the moment, Russia does not have a full-fledged consistent foreign economic policy towards African countries. Russian presence on this vast and promising continent mainly rotates around the planned expansion of cooperation with the Republic of South Africa within the BRICS, as well as the international activities of the largest Russian companies, which also do not always have consistent and coordinated business development strategies in Africa. In cases where the strategy does exist, it is not part of a general and well-defined national work plan for the African continent. Participation in Afreximbank can give the necessary impulse to connecting large companies and public authorities of the Russian Federation with small and medium-sized innovative, scientific and educational organizations, as well as their involvement in technological renewal of the economy and the creation of new markets, such as the markets of Africa. The efficacy of the membership in Afreximbank will depend on many specific components of implementing the proven concept of strategic and tactical actions of the Russian operator of direct participation in it. In this sense, the fixation on the financial technological side of matter instead of due analysis of the quality and the feasibility of the future projects by experts on African markets may pose a real challenge. Expert assessments and analysis by qualified professional scientists from the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences may be one way of ensuring the desired results.

Keywords:

Russia, Afreximbank, non-primary commodities export, investment projects, innovations, new markets, foreign economic strategy, small and medium-sized businesses

References:

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