The Russian Ambassador to Ghana, Andrei Ordash, says the upcoming Russia-Africa Summit offers Ghana the platform to attract more Russian investment, expand access for its products to the Russian market and develop cooperation in various areas.
He said the summit also offered Ghana the opportunity at the high level to present its own vision of what the Russian-African partnership should be.
“Moscow regards Ghana as an equal African partner with whom long-term relations can be built.
The forthcoming summit in Moscow should give this partnership a fresh momentum,” he said.
Mr Ordash said this in an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra.
Scheduled to take place from October 28 to 29, the Russia-Africa Summit is the highest-profile and largest-scale event in Russian-African relations.
It seeks to promote efforts to strengthen comprehensive and equal cooperation between Russia and African nations across all areas of society, including politics, security, economic relations, science and technology, and the cultural and humanitarian spheres.
This year’s forum will be the third, the first having taken place in Sochi, Russia, in 2019, and the second held in St Petersburg, also in Russia, in 2023.
Mr Ordash said for this year's summit, a lot of Ghanaian businesses and individuals had been invited to participate, with President John Dramani Mahama already confirmed to be attending.
He said since assuming office, he had seen enormous interest from both Russian and Ghanaian businesses to develop their cooperation, and that he believed the summit would give businesses from both countries the momentum to act in order to have all those projects and ideas materialised.
Mr Ordash said almost all African countries were expected at this year’s summit, which would highlight several major areas of Russia-Africa relations, including trade and investment, energy, food and energy security, education, science and technology, security and the fight against terrorism and international agenda.
He explained further that Russia was keen to ensure that trade with African countries grew not only through the supply of specific products, but also through joint ventures, industrial cooperation, localisation and investment.
Regarding energy, he said Russia possessed the expertise that might be particularly sought after by African states.
“This involves not only the construction of power stations, but also the training of specialists and the development of a scientific regulatory framework,” he said.
Russia has been instrumental in helping African countries, mostly those from the Sahel, with security, and Mr Ordash said Russia stood ready to provide the necessary training, expertise and technology for African countries on security.
On the international agenda, he said during the summit, Russia and Africa would advocate strengthening the role of the United Nations (UN), reforming international financial institutions, enhancing the role of developing countries in global decision-making, and opposing sanctions mechanisms that hindered the development of the world.
Presence in Africa
Touching on Russia's stronger presence across Africa, the Ambassador, who has served in several African countries, including Senegal and Guinea, as part of his diplomatic career, said Russia did not view its relations with Africa as a temporary focus of its foreign policy nor as a reaction to the current international situation.
"For us, this is a long-term partnership based on historical ties, mutual respect and, most importantly today, shared interests.
Africa is changing very rapidly.
African countries are becoming important decision-making centres; their economic and political influence is growing; and African countries themselves are actively shaping their own approaches to issues of international security, trade and development, and the reform of the global financial system.
Russia welcomes this process," he said.
Mr Ordash reiterated the belief of his country that African countries must be able to determine for themselves whom and in which areas they wished to cooperate, adding that this was why Russia had been advocating a multipolar world and fairer representation of African countries in international institutions, especially the UN.
