The St. Petersburg Economic Forum opened yesterday for its 25th edition in a particular context for the organizing country. At the heart of many round tables: Russia’s resilience in the face of the sanctions it has been subject to for several months by Western countries because of the conflict in Ukraine. And as guest of honor, Egypt.
Russian ambitions are announced: take advantage of the opportunities that Africa offers for the Russian economy and security “. Energy issues and food security are the dominant themes. The Senegalese ambassador will intervene on this last subject. Macky Sall recently traveled to Russia to plead the cause of the continent, hit hard by the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
If some close allies are therefore announced. No head of state is officially expected. Last year, Félix Tshisekedi, current president of the African Union, made the trip. ” It is time for the country to shed its illusions and reconsider its external economic strategy “, specify the organizers of the Forum.
The Egyptians in particular intervene in many panels over the three days. A round table is even devoted to the Russia-Egypt relationship this Thursday. At the heart of trade in particular, the Russian industrial zone in the economic zone of the Suez Canal. The ambition: that it become a gateway for Russian companies to the markets of other countries on the African continent “.
The CAR in numbers
Another important delegation, that of the Central African Republic. The Prime Minister himself made the trip, at the head of a delegation of about ten members made up of the Minister of Mines, Rufin Benam-Beltoungou, and national experts. He is to take part today in the round table on Russian-African relations, in the company of the President of the Commission of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Angolan Gilberto Da Piedade Verissimo, and a dozen or so Russian speakers, including the general manager of the RT channel.
Objective of the delegation: to deepen cooperation with Russia, hitherto centered on the security and mining sectors.
Absent from the official photo of the delegation, another holder of a Central African diplomatic passport will nevertheless be present in the corridors of the St. Petersburg forum: it is the Cameroonian Emile Parfait Simb. The entrepreneur has seen his star fade in his country, where he is the target of complaints for scams, after investors lost their stake in what they describe as a scam like a Ponzi scheme.
Émile Parfait Simb nevertheless knew how to bounce back in Bangui last year: appointed special adviser to the President of the National Assembly Simplice Mathieu Sarandji, it is in this capacity that he obtained his passport in November. He is often presented as one of the main inspirations of the “Sango project”, the Central African cryptocurrency carried by President Touadera.