MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The second Russia–Africa Summit will take place in July 2023 in Saint Petersburg, Russia's "northern capital". The event is a follow-up to the first meeting of the kind, which was held in Sochi in 2019.
There is pressure from the West on African countries that want to take part in the Russia–Africa summit, and the African states are less than delighted, Oleg Ozerov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large and the head of the secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, said on Thursday.
"Of course, this is all in the public sphere, it's easy to read on the Internet according to the statements made by Western partners, including those who come to African countries. I can't say that African states are delighted with this. Sheer blackmail," Ozerov said.
He added that Moscow proceeds from the premise that African states are sovereign countries that have independence, sovereignty and their own political will, and are quite capable of making decisions that meet their national interests.
The second Russia–Africa Summit will take place in July 2023 in Saint Petersburg, Russia's "northern capital". The event is a follow-up to the first meeting of the kind, which was held in Sochi in 2019. The main topic of this year's summit will be economic cooperation, with a focus on spheres such as energy and mining, agriculture, manufacturing, transport, and infrastructure development, according to official statements.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also announced that the agenda of the 2023 summit will be more extensive than that of the first one, and a full section on humanitarian cooperation will be organized.
As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted, Moscow is inviting all African countries to the Russia-Africa summit, in contrast to the United States, which excluded several African countries from the US–Africa Leaders' Summit.
Ghana is interested in purchasing a floating nuclear power plant from Russia, Ghanaian Ambassador to Russian Koma Steem Jehu-Appiah told Sputnik.
"I know that our minister of energy was here last year and signed a corresponding agreement. I think this is innovative, and in a conversation with the minister of energy, he said that the country is interested.
So, Ghana could purchase such a nuclear power plant," the diplomat said when asked about the possibility of Ghana purchasing a floating nuclear power plant.
Russia and Ghana began cooperation in the field of nuclear energy after signing an intergovernmental agreement in 2015.
The agreement outlined plans for joint work in the areas of training specialists, building nuclear power plants and related infrastructure, and providing maintenance services. In October 2023, representatives of Rosatom met with the Ghanaian Ministry of Energy in Cape Town. At the meeting, Russia proposed using floating nuclear power plants to supply power to ...
