Russian foreign affairs, Crimea and Syria, efficient support for legal government of Venezuela proved its status of the world power. German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel appreciated Russian achievements when she pointed, that Russia is an European competitor like USA and China. Local application of military and diplomatic efforts had global results.

But a world power can not continue to build its strategy through whirlwind military campaigns.

Russian President Vladimir Putin with the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, African Union chairperson, will co-chair Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum which will be held on 23—24 October 2019 in Sochi, Russian Federation. This is an unprecedented event since the collapse of the USSR.

The organisation of the event of such level is a complicated task requiring a lot of work and attention. Participants should be imposed to send representatives with dignity. A lot of protocol issues should be solved. Information policy should be built. Several dozens of economic agreements, at least, agreements of intent, should be prepared to be signed in great state during the Forum. But what will be left after the Forum? Sweet memories on solemn pictures, agreements to develop agreements in a future, and only a few of real trade contracts, or constant task-oriented work to realise mutual benefits from cooperation?

Unfortunately, disappointment from great expectations of international summits leads to losing face and beneficial contacts in a future. Even several dozens of trade contracts is not a deserved result for a world power. Rather, it is a natural derivative from that status. Loan and investment agreements under which Russia will probably provide resources like USSR in exchange to questionable perspectives are not a success. The Forum will fail if its consequences will be restricted to the above-listed ones.

Russia should not compete with Western World and China in exploitation of African natural resources, for access to markets of mass consumer goods, or for export of capital. Russia does not have deficit in own natural resources, Russian mass consumer goods are not competitive enough with Chinese ones. Russia faces capital shortages in own economy.

Therefore, Russia with its potential economic interests in Africa does not oppose to Western World or China likewise these two powers oppose each other. Russia is the only world power which can develop an economic mechanism for long-term sustained development without unequal trade and competition with other powers.

The role of Russia is to be an expert, a mediator for arbitrage, for economic agreements. Russia should provide the independent expertise for the needs of African governments. Russian technologies should be a basis for development of African nations. In particular, Russian financial consultants may advise on efficient capital allocation from the point of view of African states. Russian economic expertise should be a basis for the efficient planning in long-term infrastructure investment projects. Russian independent engineers should supervise the construction of infrastructure objects, facilitate the management of contractors, control the quality in the interests of African project owners. Such coordination of development in Africa will allow to enforce the cooperation mechanisms in world markets of natural resources. The latter is mutually beneficial for Russia and African states.

Russian military and political authority allows to play a role of the guarantor in contracts between many counterparties, provide security during realisation of investment projects. The only trap in this role is security export without participation in any other related economic activities. The plain security export is economically inefficient, even a threat to realisation of the potential in Russian-African economic cooperation, pessimum pessimus. By the way, some Russian and African partners place Russia to this Procrustean bed.

Certainly, this economic mechanism should facilitate bilateral trade in investments. However, at present international financial system fails “to resolve the key problems, primarily, the balance of currency relations and trade exchanges”, as President Putin put in St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Therefore the selection of financing instruments is a key problem. Leasing of technical equipment, transport facilities (eg, airliners SSJ 100, Irkut MC-21, ships of “river-sea” class, mobile solutions in energy supply), project financing with profit-sharing and Russian participation in technical support and exploitation of infrastructure objects, digitalisation as a basis for reducing production and exchange costs, education with student practice in their own countries under supervision of the Russian mentors (a geographical variant of the seminal Phystech system)—all these will improve living conditions in Africa with Russian technologies.

Moscow’s Move!

Russia is

•     the only empire in the history preserved all the nationals created the Russia,

•     the empire without colonial past,

•     a rich and open culture with highest technological level,

•     respectful to its partners, their habits and customs,

•     not corrupting the institutions of its partners.

All of these is a solid basis for the breakthrough to the society of the sustainable development, for the resolving the problems mankind faces at present. The building should be worthy for this basis.