ST. PETERSBURG, July 25. /TASS/. Moscow is seeking to build equitable, peer-to-peer relations with Africa and the countries of the continent are ready to reciprocate, said Oleg Ozerov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large and head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.

"Russia neither builds relations aimed against third countries nor forms blocs. [Rather,] Russia aims to establish mutually beneficial, equitable relations with the African continent, and the African continent is ready for this," the diplomat said at a Russian-African conference hosted by the international Valdai Discussion Club.

According to him, African nations are expanding their relations with Moscow because doing so fully accords with their interests. "Their goal is to provide additional impetus for their own development, which has gained a lot of pace," Ozerov noted. "Although Africa currently produces only three percent of global GDP, it has huge potential, in terms of both commodities and manpower," he added.

The diplomat emphasized that the future of relations between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and sub-regional African organizations may be discussed on the sidelines of the upcoming Russia-Africa Summit. According to Ozerov, talks on the matter are expected to take place both at bilateral meetings between African leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as during multilateral events.

The diplomat also highlighted a critical difference between the approaches of Russia and the West to building relations with the African continent. On the one hand, in Ozerov’s words, there is "the Cold War mentality, which is evident in what the West is currently doing, particularly in Ukraine, where a military bloc is being created under the banner of the so-called fight for democracy and against autocracy." "On the other hand, there is the completely different logic that Russian is promoting," the diplomat went on to say. Moscow’s approach is "aimed at searching for common ground regarding the major political issues on the current agenda and developing tools and mechanisms for resolving them," Ozerov said.

The second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum are scheduled to be held in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on July 27-28. The first event, themed "For Peace, Security and Development," took place in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi in October 2019.