MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. Russian state corporation Rostec wants to expand its presence in Africa and to start supplying medical equipment to Algeria and Morocco, Ivan Ozhgykhin, deputy general director of the Shvabe holding, told TASS ahead of the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi.
The Shvabe holding is part of the Rostec corporation.
According to him, this year, the holding delivered medical equipment to several hospitals in Tunisia for free in 2019. It also sells medical equipment to Egypt, Ethiopia and wants to expand its presence on the African continent.
"Shvabe Holding supplies medical equipment both on a commercial and charitable basis, for example, in recent years, we delivered neonatal equipment, including artificial lung ventilation devices, incubators, heaters and phototherapeutic irradiators, to dozens of hospitals in four African countries. In 2014, 39 units of neonatal equipment were shipped to Niger, Uganda and Cote d'Ivoire, and in 2019, 19 units of equipment were delivered to nine Tunisian hospitals," he said.
On a commercial basis, Rostec Holding supplies equipment to Egypt, and works with partners in Ethiopia and other African countries.
Ozhgykhin noted that several years ago, Russian medical equipment was not represented on the continent.
"We signed our first commercial contract with Egypt in 2015. Then we suppled them with two pieces of equipment: an incubator and a phototherapeutic irradiator for newborns. In the near future we are waiting for new orders from our Egyptian dealer, we will enter the markets of Algeria and Morocco through our sales offices," Ozhgikhin said.
Russia-Africa summit
On October 23-24, the resort city of Sochi will host the Russia-Africa Summit, co-chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egypt’s head of state Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The leaders of all 54 African countries have been invited to come, and 47 of them have already confirmed their participation. Eight major African integration associations and organizations are also involved in the event. On the summit’s sidelines, an economic forum will take place, which will be attended by the continent’s heads of state, and representatives of the business community and government agencies. The Roscongress Foundation is the organizer of the event, and TASS is the official photo host agency of the summit and economic forum.