Russian Export Center, African Partners to Create $5Bln Commercial Payments Platform

Mogadishu – The Russian Export Center (REC), Russian banks and African partners will sign an agreement on creating a Russia-Africa commercial payments platform, with its volume estimated at around $5 billion, at the upcoming Russia-Africa Summit, REC Director General Andrei Slepnev said in an interview.

“There is a plan to sign an agreement on creating a mechanism for funding Russia-Africa trade. The REC, jointly with Russian banks and global partners, is working on a platform for commercial payments with Africa, and its volume will reach around $5 billion”, Slepnev stated.

The agreement aims at boosting cooperation with Africa and ensuring funding of Russian products deliveries there, he explained.

“The platform will enable absorbing risks related to doing trade with the [African] continent, and launching deliveries that are highly valued in the international market. We, in turn, will attract … at least 10 countries and literally open a trade corridor. The Russian business will be able to take advantage of it, and therefore our presence in Africa will increase significantly”.

The Russian resort city of Sochi will host the Russia-Africa Summit and business forum, co-chaired by Russia and Egypt, from 23-24 October. The leaders of all the 54 African nations have been invited to the event, with more than 40 of them having already confirmed their attendance. The Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency is an official media partner of the event.