Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa on Thursday (June 6) in St. Petersburg. The meeting will include one-on-one talks, followed by talks with an expanded circle of delegates. The Russian side will be represented by top diplomat Sergey Lavrov, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Alexander Kozlov, and Economic Development Ministers Maxim Reshetnikov, Shugayev and Likhachev. It is the fourth time since 2019 that Mnangagwa has visited Russia.

Russia-Zimbabwe relations date back to the Soviet era, while more recently, Zimbabwe was one of the few countries that voted with Russia on United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 concerning the annexation of Crimea. Russia maintains strong economic and political ties with Zimbabwe and maintains an embassy in Harare.

Zimbabwe is landlocked, and bordered by BRICS member South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the north, and Mozambique to the east. The capital and largest city is Harare, and the second largest is Bulawayo. It has a population of about 17 million and a GDP (PPP) of about US$45 billion.

It was previously a British colony, however, has been under Western sanctions since the mid-2000’s concerning differing democratic and human rights values. 

The main foreign exports of Zimbabwe are minerals, gold, and agriculture, and it currently enjoys rapid growth and development – it has the fastest growing mobile communications market in Africa.

The mining sector is also lucrative, with some of the world’s largest platinum reserves being mined by Anglo American plc, Zimplats, and Impala Platinum. Zimplats, the nation’s largest platinum company, has proceeded with US$500 million in expansions. The Marange diamond fields, discovered in 2006, are considered the biggest diamond find in over a century. They have the potential to improve the fiscal situation of the country. In terms of carats produced, the Marange field is one of the largest diamond-producing projects in the world. Metallon Corporation is Zimbabwe’s largest gold miner.

Russia’s bilateral trade with Zimbabwe is worth about US$80 million, with Russian exports including fertilizers, chemical products, transportation and vegetable products. Zimbabwe’s exports include root vegetables, other vegetable products and fruits.

Zimbabwe is a member of the United Nations, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union, and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Further Reading

Russia & Africa 2024

Our 2024 Russia’s Pivot To Asia Guide features comprehensive discussions on Russia’s relationship with numerous African nations. It is a complimentary download and can be accessed in English here and Russian here.

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, has been in discussions with Captain Ibrahim Traore, the Burkina Faso leader who took power in the country following a 2022 military coup. Meetings took place in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou late on Tuesday (June 4).

Diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in 1967, but Russia closed its embassy in 1992. Russia reopened its embassy in Burkina Faso after a gap of more than 31 years in 2023. The Burkina Faso government sees the resumption as an important moment in cooperation, completing a cycle of rapprochement and a new era of cooperation.

Apart from the presence of Russian military personnel, Moscow has promised to send grain. Russia gave a 25,000-ton shipment of wheat to Burkina Faso in January 2024.

Having natural resources of gold, manganese, zinc, and phosphate, Burkina Faso is an important target for Russian companies. Burkina Faso imports from Russia reached US$437.73 Million in 2022. Burkina Faso imports included mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, explosives, pyrotechnics, matches, pyrophorics, iron and steel, fertilizers, cereals, and pharmaceutical products.

Burkina Faso’s exports to Russia reached US$204,000 in 2022, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. Burkina Faso exports to Russia were aircraft components, mineral fuels, oils, distillation products, machinery, and boilers.

Russia will be looking to provide security services to the country, as well as increase overall trade ties. Burkina Faso has been severely affected by the rise of Insurgencies in the Sahel since the mid-2010s. Several militias, partly allied with the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, operate in Burkina Faso and across the border in Mali and Niger.

Burkina Faso was a French colony but like much of the Sahel region has undergone a ‘divorce’ from Paris amid accusations of unfair trade practices, unreasonable political demands and inadequate security.

Burkina Faso is landlocked, and covers an area of 274,223 km2, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. The country has an estimated population of about 25 million.

Burkina Faso is one of the least developed countries in the world, with a GDP (PPP) of just US$63 billion. However, natural resources include gold, manganese, limestone, marble, phosphates, pumice, and salt.  Agriculture represents 32% of its gross domestic product and occupies 80% of the working population. This consists mostly of rearing livestock. Especially in the south and southwest, the people grow crops of sorghum, pearl millet, maize (corn), peanuts, rice and cotton, with surpluses to be sold. A large part of the economic activity of the country is funded by international aid, despite having gold ores in abundance. Russia will be looking at mining opportunities.

Further Reading

Russia & Africa 2024

Our 2024 Russia’s Pivot To Asia Guide features comprehensive discussions on Russia’s relationship with numerous African nations. It is a complimentary download and can be accessed in English here and Russian here.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov is expected in Chad this week as part of a 2024 African diplomatic tour. Lavrov is scheduled to meet with Mahamat Idriss Deby, the new President, who was sworn in on May 23 following his victory in the May 6 elections. This moment marked the country’s formal return to constitutional rule after three years of transitional military government. He is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Allamaye Halina.

Chad sits at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. The landlocked country is bordered by Libya to the north, with Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, Nigeria to the southwest (at Lake Chad), and Niger to the west.

The country is a former French colony and has undergone problems with terrorism in its recent past, including Muslim insurgency under the Boko Haram militants. Lavrov’s visit will be to discuss military and security support, as Russia is doing with several African states as Russia inherits a region now distrustful of its previous colonial masters. 

Russia’s foreign trade with Chad is small and only about US$3 million. However, Chad has a population of 16 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city of N’Djamena. With a total area of around 1,284,000 km2, Chad is the fifth-largest country in Africa and the twentieth largest nation by area in the world.

With Chad being landlocked, Lavrov will be looking for opportunities not just in security and military support, but also to look at reviving Chad’s oil industry, with its proven reserves of 1.5 billion barrels. That energy and potential income will be needed to develop Chad’s agricultural industry, which has been decimated by poor management, war, and desertification. Russian fertilizer and grain exports are also likely to be discussed.

Chad also has a significant cotton industry although again this will need infrastructural development. Cattle farming and gum arabic production are also significant industries. Mobile phone and internet usage are also well below normal African penetration rates and there are likely to be opportunities in communications infrastructure. 

However – getting much needed development into the country is highly dependent on maintaining domestic security.

Chad is a member of the African Union, the Bank of Central African States, the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (UDEAC) and the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA).

Further Reading

Russia-Africa 2024 Trade & Development

Russia’s trade and investments in Africa are extensively discussed in our 2024 Russia’s Pivot To Asia guide. This is a complimentary download and can be accessed in English here and Russian here. 

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in the Republic of Congo, where he will hold meetings with Sassou Nguessou, the President along with other leaders. Discussions are being held in Oyo city.

This year marks the 60th anniversary since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the Republic of Congo, while Nguessou attended last years Russia-Africa Summit in St.Petersburg. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last July, who noted that “leading Russian companies, including Lukoil, Yandex, and Rosatom, are working effectively in Congo.”

Discussions are likely to focus on further promotion of trade and economic ties. According to data provided by Putin at the negotiations in July 2023, trade turnover between Russia and the Republic of Congo soared by 85% in January-April 2023. Overall bilateral trade however is relatively small at about US$250 million. Russia exports wheat and petroleum products, while the Congo exports mainly fruits.

The Congolese energy sector will be high on the agenda, as Republic of Congo proven reserves of crude oil are estimated at 1.6 billion barrels, while earlier this year, Congo announced plans to start exporting liquefied natural gas, producing the first batch at the Marine 12 project of the joint venture between Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Lukoil. The reserves of natural and associated gas in the country were estimated at 90.6 million cubic meters.

Military-technical cooperation will also be among the topics of negotiations between the head of Russian diplomacy in the Congo. In 2019, a contract was signed to send Russian military specialists to this African state. Also, at that time, negotiations were held on the supply of new Russian military equipment to the Republic of Congo.

As noted at the Russian Embassy in Brazzaville, an important area of bilateral relations is also humanitarian cooperation, “interaction in the training of Congolese personnel in Russian universities is intensively developing.” In the 2023-2024 academic year, the number of government scholarships for the Republic of Congo was increased to 250. The Russian Center for Science and Culture operates in Brazzaville.

The Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, West Congo, the Congo Republic, ROC, or simply either Congo or the Congo, is located on the western coast of Central Africa to the west of the Congo River. It is bordered to the west by Gabon, to the northwest by Cameroon, to the northeast by the Central African Republic, to the southeast by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, and to the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean.

The Republic of the Congo is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, La Francophonie, the Economic Community of Central African States, and the Non-Aligned Movement. It has become the 4th-largest oil producer in the Gulf of Guinea, providing the country with a degree of prosperity. Its economy is largely dependent on the oil sector.

Like several countries in Africa, The Congo was a French colony. Russian assistance is now preferred, with ties dating back to the Soviet era.

The economy is a mixture of village agriculture and handicrafts, an industrial sector based mainly on petroleum, and related support services. Petroleum extraction has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, accounting for about 65% of the GDP, 85% of government revenue, and 92% of exports. The country has relatively untapped mineral wealth including base metal, gold, iron, and phosphate deposits along with diamonds. It has a GDP (PPP) of about US$28 billion and a total population of about 6.5 million.

Further Reading

Russia-Africa 2024 Trade & Development

Russia’s trade and investments in Africa are extensively discussed in our 2024 Russia’s Pivot To Asia guide. This is a complimentary download and can be accessed in English here and Russian here.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Guinea, West Africa, where he will begin a new African tour. Lavrov is scheduled to meet with Mamady Doumbouya, the interim President since 2021. He came to power after a military coup, in similar circumstances to other recent activities in what were previously French colonies. Meetings will take palace in the capital, Conakry.

Several African nations, including Niger and Mali have expressed dissatisfaction with trade agreements reached with Paris. All are seeking security and military assistance from Russia.  

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the visit, saying that “Russian-Guinean relations are friendly. There is an active political dialogue.” On July 27, 2001, a declaration on the principles of friendly relations and partnership between Russia and Guinea was signed in Moscow. Since 2002, the Russian-Guinean intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific, technical and trade cooperation has been working. In 2017, during a meeting between Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin and Guinea’s President Alpha Conde, a Russian-Guinea interparliamentary commission was established.

Russia’s foreign trade with Guinea is small and has reached about US$200 million. However, Guinea has a population of 14 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres, including Atlantic Ocean access. Lavrov will be looking to boost commercial fishing as Russia looks to replace European Atlantic Ocean supplies.  It is primarily an agricultural economy, with Russian fertilizer imports also being a potential trade win. Guinea also has about 25% the world’s known bauxite reserves, a major source of aluminium. It also has diamonds, gold, and other metals. Bauxite and alumina are the major exports.

Guinea is a member of the African Union, Agency for the French-Speaking Community, African Development Bank, Economic Community of West African States, World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, IMF, and the United Nations.

Further Reading

Russia-Africa 2024 Trade & Development

Russia’s trade and investments in Africa are extensively discussed in our 2024 Russia’s Pivot To Asia guide. This is a complimentary download and can be accessed in English here and Russian here.