Africa is capable of trading and engaging on its own terms with world partners like Russia, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.
Ramaphosa, writing in his weekly letter to the nation, rejected the notion that Africa was on the path of being recolonised following last week’s Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi.
The president said it was wrong to label initiatives such as the Russia-Africa, China-Africa and Japan-Africa summits as the world partners’ attempts to expand their geo-political influence on the continent.
On his and the 42 African leaders’ attendance of Russian summit last week, the president said this was an opportunity for the superpowers to invest in the continent on a mutual basis.
Africa’s engagement with the Russian Federation would help boost the African Continental Free Trade Area that is set to come into effect in 2020, he added.
In the letter, Ramaphosa said South Africa would use its 2020 chairmanship of the African Union to ensure that Africa was able to trade and engage with the world on its own terms.
NM/jn/APA