MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Western countries have turned food and fertilizers into tools of geopolitical and geoeconomic blackmail, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum.

"We are actively pursuing the launch of the Russia-Africa Agro-Industrial Alliance. It is probably still taking shape and has not yet been fully established. At a time when the West has turned food and fertilizers into instruments of geopolitical and geoeconomic blackmail, Russia sets no political conditions for cooperation in this area," he noted.

Ryabkov expressed confidence that "this will continue." "And the Russia-Africa Agro-Industrial Alliance will become an important element of the new global architecture," the senior diplomat emphasized.