Russian investment in Africa is ‘about people’ – advocacy group head

Russian investment can boost economic growth in Africa and help free the continent from resource dependency, NJ Ayuk, the executive chairman of the African Energy Chamber, told RT on Friday during Russian Energy Week 2024, an international forum held in Moscow this past week.

Unlike Western nations, which are focused on pushing their own agendas, Moscow is ready and willing to work with local communities in Africa, the head of the South Africa-based energy advocacy group said.

“Russian investment in Africa is about people. They start by working with local people,” Ayuk stated, adding that Russian companies coming to Africa also provide training to locals and develop infrastructure, as well as let Africans be part of the joint ventures established on the continent. “It’s a win-win… both sides win,” Ayuk said.

Whereas Western policy in Africa has mostly been about extracting resources, Russia is helping African nations free themselves from the “resource curse,” according to the businessman. Ayuk believes joint projects will help develop local production chains and “industrialize” the continent.

“Russians are not trying to take gas from Africa to bring to Russia. They’re trying to tell Africans, use that gas to power your people,” Ayuk said. “We sit at the table as friends, not as adversaries… that’s definitely obvious that for Russia, it is important to have a stronger Africa.”

Cooperation with Moscow and other BRICS nations could help African countries become stronger to “withstand” the pressure from Washington and its allies, Ayuk believes. Meanwhile, the US and other Western nations are still seeking to impose their agenda on the continent, he said, mentioning as an example what he called the “rushed transition” to green energies.

The plans suggested by the West require “about $300 billion of investment every year,” which Western nations are not ready to provide, according to Ayuk. “The EU claims that it has vowed to make energy access top priority when it comes to the African continent and they say that the Green Agenda does actually consider the African reality. Do you think that it does? It doesn’t.”

The West already greatly benefited from the use of hydrocarbons, which facilitated its industrial development, Ayuk said. Now, the US and its allies basically want Africa to transition “from the dark to the dark.”

“They need to decarbonize. We need to industrialize,” Ayuk declared, adding that the continent needs to take its fate into its own hands.

Russian Energy Week, an international forum focused on energy cooperation, has been held annually since 2017. This year’s event attracted some 5,000 participants from 84 nations and territories, as well as over 250 companies.

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