MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. Africa will become one of the leaders of the multipolar world, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed with confidence on Monday.

"African states are constantly increasing their authority and role in global affairs, asserting themselves more and more confidently in politics and the economy," Putin stressed. "We are convinced that Africa will become one of the leaders of the emerging multipolar world order," Putin told a Russia-Africa parliamentary conference.

He is convinced that all the objective prerequisites for this are in place. The Russian president reiterated that Africa is home to about 1.5 billion people, it has huge resources - almost a third of the world's mineral resources. Although African countries still account for only 3% of global GDP, many of their economies are growing rapidly, Putin said.

He also added that amid the global turbulence on the political and economic landscape, African countries are trying to conduct an independent and sovereign foreign and domestic policy, to autonomously solve their own, sometimes difficult, problems.