One of the key events at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was the Russia–Africa Business Dialogue. Its central theme could be summarized as the pursuit of economic sovereignty by the countries of the African continent.
Politically, a major milestone was the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1960 at the initiative of the USSR. Today, Russia is once again actively assisting Africa—this time in overcoming postcolonial economic dependence on the West.
The dialogue featured representatives of intergovernmental and public organizations from the continent, including NJ Ayuk, Chairman of the African Energy Chamber; Lam Akol Ajawin, Minister of Transport of South Sudan; Salim Ismael Valá, Minister of Planning and Development of Mozambique; and Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso, Minister of International Cooperation and Public-Private Partnership Promotion of the Republic of the Congo.
The Russian side was represented by top executives from JSC UralChem, PJSC PhosAgro, Innopraktika, Nordgold Management LLC, and Poliplast Group, as well as Nikita Gusakov, Senior Vice President of the Russian Export Center; Tatyana Dovgalenko, Director of the Africa Partnership Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. The session was moderated by Irina Abramova, Director of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The speakers outlined a range of key challenges facing the continent. These include the lack of access to electricity for approximately half of the population, insufficient budgetary resources, underdeveloped transportation infrastructure, difficulties in conducting financial transactions, a rising number of people suffering from hunger in recent years, and high crime rates.
At the same time, Africa's vast potential is evident. The continent boasts immense human resources: by 2100, its population is projected to account for 40% of the global total. In terms of natural wealth, although the continent occupies less than one-fifth of the Earth’s land surface, it holds one-third of the world’s mineral resources beneath its soil.
It is evident that the continent’s wealth must be transformed from a passive asset into an active driver of development. The direction for turning Africa’s natural and human capital into tangible public prosperity was outlined by Vladimir Litvinenko:
«If we consider natural wealth per capita, Africans should be 22–25 times richer than Europeans. Yet the reality is quite the opposite. It is clear that in the 21st century, the key driver of development will be the extraction and processing of raw materials supported by advanced technologies.
Africans understand well that, from an economic standpoint, extracting 100 grams of gold is more efficient than growing 100 tons of bananas. It is no coincidence that agriculture has traditionally been a subsidized sector of the global economy. What Africa needs is industrialization. Speaking of gold, let us remember that 62% of global reserves are located here. What prevents these from being used to raise living standards? A critical shortage of professionals—first and foremost, engineers. Natural resources must be the foundation of development, and sovereignty in subsoil use can only be ensured by well-trained local personnel.
The second question is: why is the presence of Russian companies in Africa still insufficient? Again, there are many reasons, but the main one lies in the absence of a consistent state regulatory policy. Africa has a transitional economy, which—as we know from experience—is typically accompanied by a lack of clear rules for business, administrative arbitrariness, and crises in both the social and spiritual spheres. The system must be reformed, and the business climate improved. And once again, this brings us back to education.
The global economy’s demand for raw materials will only continue to grow. Yet the postcolonial system still holds many African countries in its orbit—primarily through debt dependence. Business, by its nature, always seeks to minimize its contribution to the development of the state and society. The only effective counter to this is competent state regulation and robust mechanisms for developing Africa’s human capital. With these in place, African countries will be able to take control of investment flows and successfully develop their own technologies».
Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University has for several years been initiating and implementing large-scale educational integration projects with African countries. As a continuation of the agreements reached at the Second Russia–Africa Summit, the university established the “Nedra Afriki” (Subsoil of Africa) consortium of technical universities in December 2023.
By adopting the engineering education model that Russia’s oldest technical university has been implementing for the third consecutive year as part of a presidential pilot project, the members of the consortium will be able to elevate their academic programs to a leading global level.
In addition to training African students, the Mining University also provides support in the professional retraining of managerial personnel from African countries in the mineral resource sector. Enrollment is already underway for the full-time, one-year postgraduate retraining program “Management of Subsoil Use Facilities..
On the eve of the Russia–Africa Business Dialogue, the international conference “Responsibility of Global Leaders in Mineral Reserves and Extraction for the Sustainable Development of the Global Economy” was held at the Mining University as part of SPIEF 2025. During the event, African guests were presented in detail with the new Russian model of engineering education.
