L. Fituni, I. Abramova Resource Potential of Africa and Russia's ...

in Moscow, Mr. Ridha Ben Mosbah also conferred with Deputy Minister
of Trade and Industry, Mr. Georgy Kalamanov, Foreign affairs
Deputy Minister in charge of the Arab World, Mr. Alexander Saltanov
and co-Chairman of the Tunisian-Russian Business Council,
Mrs. Tatiana Sadofieva. Many hope for increased were connected
with the achieved agreements and plans prepared by the commission,
Unfortunately, violent developments, which took place in Tunisia in
early 2011 made the fulfillment of those plans unpredictable.
3.4. Cooperation with Countries South of the Sahara:
Looking Beyond the Soviet Heritage
A principled stance in support of Africa allowed Russia to make
progress in ensuring global stability and facilitate the development
of fruitful cooperation with African countries.
Priority was given to the creation of a favorable political climate
for the expansion of multifaceted contacts with the continent. Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev's trip to Africa, during which he
visited Nigeria, Namibia, and Angola (June 2009), gave a strong
impetus to the development of the whole range of relations with African
countries.
A big set of intergovernmental and interdepartmental documents
and contracts between Russian and African companies was signed
during the visits. Standing out among them are Agreements on the
Encouragement and Mutual Protection of Investments with all the
three countries, a medium-term program of economic, scientifictechnical,
and trade cooperation for 2009–2013 with Angola, documents
on the creation of a joint venture between Gazprom OJSC and
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and on the creation of
the Angolan national satellite communications and broadcasting system
ANGOSAT.
An important role was given to regular contacts with high representatives
of African countries. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's
Moscow negotiations with Foreign Ministers Alexis Thambwe
Muamba of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (April
2009), Assunção dos Anjos of Angola and Moctar Ouane of Mali
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