African leaders seek grain commitments at Russia summit with Putin
Published: 05:07 PM,Jul 26,2023 | EDITED : 09:07 PM,Jul 26,2023
Flags informing of the upcoming Russia-Africa summit fly in front of Saint Isaac's Cathedral in central Saint Petersburg, Russia. — Reuters
LONDON: African leaders will look to Russian President Vladimir Putin for concrete promises on grain supplies at a summit starting on Thursday, with some also likely to seek clarity and assurances on the future of Wagner mercenaries in the continent.
The gathering in St Petersburg will take place 10 days after Putin quit the Black Sea agreement that had enabled Ukraine - like Russia, a major grain exporter - to ship food out of its southern ports despite the 17-month-old conflict.
Chicago wheat futures, a benchmark of global prices, have risen around 20 per cent since Russia ended the deal on July 17. They are now at their highest levels since February, though well below their peaks of 2022.
Putin wrote in a pre-summit article on the Kremlin website that the arrangement had been 'shamelessly' exploited by US and European trading firms and less than 3 per cent of the grain shipped had reached the poorest countries - ignoring the wider effect of the deal in pushing down prices worldwide.
Mvemba Dizolele, director of the Africa Programme at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said food insecurity would be the top issue for the Africans.
'Prices just went through the roof in a lot of these countries. So if you are any African leader out there, that's the last thing you want... It's absolutely an important national security issue for a lot of these African countries,' he said.
Putin says Russia is expecting a record harvest this year and is ready to fill the gap for African countries by supplying grain both commercially and for free.
Russia has just over 3 million tonnes of grain available in a state intervention fund, but Russian and foreign analysts said they expected only symbolic amounts to be dispersed free as aid.
Russia says 49 African delegations will take part but only 17 heads of state - sharply down from the 45 who attended the last such event in 2019. It accuses the West of trying to sabotage the event by dissuading leaders from coming.
In the week of the summit, the United States has sent a top Treasury official to visit Kenya and Somalia, and Ukraine's foreign minister is making his third wartime tour of Africa. The West accuses Moscow of 'weaponising' grain, pointing to Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea deal. — Reuters
The gathering in St Petersburg will take place 10 days after Putin quit the Black Sea agreement that had enabled Ukraine - like Russia, a major grain exporter - to ship food out of its southern ports despite the 17-month-old conflict.
Chicago wheat futures, a benchmark of global prices, have risen around 20 per cent since Russia ended the deal on July 17. They are now at their highest levels since February, though well below their peaks of 2022.
Putin wrote in a pre-summit article on the Kremlin website that the arrangement had been 'shamelessly' exploited by US and European trading firms and less than 3 per cent of the grain shipped had reached the poorest countries - ignoring the wider effect of the deal in pushing down prices worldwide.
Mvemba Dizolele, director of the Africa Programme at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said food insecurity would be the top issue for the Africans.
'Prices just went through the roof in a lot of these countries. So if you are any African leader out there, that's the last thing you want... It's absolutely an important national security issue for a lot of these African countries,' he said.
Putin says Russia is expecting a record harvest this year and is ready to fill the gap for African countries by supplying grain both commercially and for free.
Russia has just over 3 million tonnes of grain available in a state intervention fund, but Russian and foreign analysts said they expected only symbolic amounts to be dispersed free as aid.
Russia says 49 African delegations will take part but only 17 heads of state - sharply down from the 45 who attended the last such event in 2019. It accuses the West of trying to sabotage the event by dissuading leaders from coming.
In the week of the summit, the United States has sent a top Treasury official to visit Kenya and Somalia, and Ukraine's foreign minister is making his third wartime tour of Africa. The West accuses Moscow of 'weaponising' grain, pointing to Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea deal. — Reuters