Published on : Monday, November 12, 2018
In this regard, Southern African countries greet investors’ world over. Russia has a rich history in terms of bilateral engagements with the Southern African countries, which constitute the Southern African Development Community.
In October 2018, the Memorandum of Understanding was repaired which envisages fortifying ties in a broad range of fields and it further emphasizes that SADC remains comparatively as one of key regional Russian partners in Africa.
As per the official documents, Russian Foreign Ministry [MFA] first signed a Memorandum on Cooperation along with Southern African countries on September 1, 2003 during an in-depth meeting organized between then Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and SADC Executive Secretary Prega Ramsamy.
That agreement mainly targeted at intensifying the diplomatic relations and coordination between the Russian Federation and SADC. The document defined the most promising areas, along with the forms and methods of mutually beneficial cooperation in the trade-and-economic and scientific-and-technical areas, transport and communications, energy and mineral resource development, public health, education and culture.
Additionally it set out the mutual desire of Russia and the SADC member countries to develop the many-sided ties between the parties, including the significance of intensifying political contacts at various levels.