All of these developments, more or less, have degraded Russia’s image of Doing Business in Africa. On Dec 19, 2018, the Valdai Discussion Club hosted an expert discussion on Africa. Oleg Barabanov, Program Director of the Valdai Discussion Club, highlighted the investment prospects and their influence there by foreign players, and further analyzed the existing perspectives and challenges for potential Russian investors.
In her contribution, Nataliya Zaiser, Chairperson of the Board of the African Business Initiative (ABI) – a Moscow based business NGO, stressed that economic cooperation with African countries is not only a Russian initiative, but also a response to request from partners. Despite this mutual interest and potentially fruitful projects, Nataliya Zaiser said that there were still few really successful cases on the continent.
Andrei Maslov, Coordinator of the work/project on the Russia Africa Shared Vision 2030 report, Integration Expertise Analytical Center, said that in comparison with the situation a decade ago, today Africa is not only the main initiator of dialogue with Russia, but also it is much more ready for it. If earlier the economic landscape of the continent was determined by Western companies with their colonial approaches, now Africa is ready to become an equal partner, according to the Valdai report.
Read more on https://www.eurasiareview.com/11032019-the-challenges-russian-business-face-in-africa-oped/
