ST. PETERSBURG, July 27. /TASS/. Africa is capable of making development breakthroughs, said Oleg Ozerov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large and head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.

"There are opportunities for breakthroughs and growth. However, they are closely related to the issues of agriculture and fertilizers, because fertilizers are one of the most important components of agriculture, especially today, when, unfortunately, soils are being depleted very quickly," he pointed out at a session titled "Russia and Africa: Partnership for Food Sovereignty," held during the first day of the second Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg.

However, Ozerov noted that Africa was not starting its growth efforts "from scratch." "The African continent has its own success stories. In particular, we know that Ethiopia has been able to achieve self-sufficiency in grain," the diplomat added.

"Clearly, Russia has huge potential to assist the African continent in strengthening its food security, and we have a lot of work ahead of us <…> in the fields of logistics, education and agriculture," Ozerov stressed.