(period
2001- 2003)
Peace and security have been one of the priority
areas within which the Russian Federation has continued to promote the
enhancement of the capacity of African countries to achieve the goals of NEPAD.
As a member of the United Nations Security Council, the Russian Federation
consistently upholds the importance of ensuring the effectiveness of the work
of that body in order to facilitate the efforts of African States to ensure
peace and stability on the African continent. We regard the latter as a vital
condition for the socio-economic revival of Africa, which currently remains not
only the poorest, but also the most conflict-ridden continent.
At the practical level Russian nationals are
represented in all the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa. Our
representatives participated in the Security Council missions to African
conflict areas. The Russian Federation’s work as part of the troika of
international observers of the implementation of the Lusaka Protocol helped
bring to an end one of the most violent and protracted conflicts — the civil
war in Angola.
As a responsible member of the “Eight”, the Russian
Federation is contributing to the implementation of the Africa Action Plan
approved by the leaders of the Group of Eight in Kananaskis. In this work,
emphasis has been placed on joint efforts with the Africans and the United
Nations Secretariat to strengthen Africa’s capacity to deploy a peacekeeping
operation of its own at the regional or sub regional level by 2010.
Within available resources, the Russian Federation
will continue to contribute to the strengthening of Africa’s peacekeeping
capacities, which is of great significance for ensuring international peace and
security under the auspices of the United Nations at the global level.
The Russian Federation is taking active steps to
alleviate the debt burden of States of the region within the context of the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative. In terms of the amount of debt
written off for this category of countries, most of which are in Africa, the
Russian Federation occupies a leading place among the industrially developed
States. The Russian Federation has taken a decision to make an additional
contribution of US$ 10 million to the trust fund for the Initiative in
2003-2004.
We are contributing to the strengthening of the
resource base of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international
financial organizations by paying off Russian debt obligations on an
accelerated schedule. From autumn 1998 to the end of 2002, the Russian
Federation paid off US$ 14.5 billion to IMF. This infusion enables IMF and
other financial institutions to provide greater support to African and other
needy countries.
Broad trade preferences are granted to States of the
African continent. Current Russian law provides that traditional export
commodities of the least developed countries, most of which are in Africa, are
not subject to import customs duties. There are no quantitative restrictions on
the import of such commodities and no anti-dumping, compensatory or special
protective measures are applied. More than 80 per cent of the Russian
Federation’s imports from Africa fall under a preferential regime (the amount
of indirect financial assistance to States of the region is in the order of US$
8 million per year).
With the participation of Russian entities in Africa,
a number of major investment projects are being carried out, including projects
for the development of mineral resources, energy and metallurgy.
The Russian Federation is providing substantial
assistance to African States in the sphere of personnel training. Over 2,000
nationals of African countries are currently studying in our country, and every
year they receive about 800 Russian State grants. Russian teachers are working
in a number of countries of the African continent. We are participating in the
financing of the IMF programme for the establishment of African regional
technical assistance centers — AFRITACs — in order to strengthen the human
resource and organizational capacity of African States.
Approximate financial assistance to African countries
since 2001
The Russian Federation is assisting African countries in the sphere of health care. The Russian contribution to the global fund to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in 2002-2006 will amount to US$ 20 million (by April 2003 the first two payments, amounting to a total of US$ 2 million, had been made). In addition, our country contributes more than US$ 5 million to the budgets of the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS every year. This represents a substantial contribution to promoting the development of health care in developing States, and in the first place, African States. Over 200 Russian doctors are working in the African continent. In the 2002/2003 academic years, about 140 African students were admitted to Russian medical colleges under State auspices.
The Russian Federation provides targeted humanitarian
assistance to African countries for eliminating the consequences of natural
disasters. Assistance of this kind was provided to Algeria (7.6 million
roubles) in April 2002, and to Ethiopia and Eritrea (5.3 million roubles) in
April 2003. The Russian Federation has taken a decision to make a
special-purpose voluntary contribution (US$ 11 million) to the World Food
Programme’s fund for providing emergency humanitarian assistance to needy
countries, including an amount of US$ 1 million for Angola. It has also decided
to make a voluntary contribution of US$ 2 million in 2003 to the budget of the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in order to finance
humanitarian operations in Africa.