Good potential for deliveries of Russian food to Africa - Putin
SOCHI. Oct 23 (Interfax) - There is good potential for deliveries of Russian food to African countries, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Russia is one of the top ten suppliers of food to markets in African countries. We have very good potential to develop, there are things we can talk about here," Putin said at the plenary session of the Russia-Africa Economic Forum in Sochi.
Russia exports more agricultural products than weapons. "Weapons are at $15 billion, while I believe agricultural production has already exceeded $25 billion [$25.8 billion]," he said.
Russian suppliers are paying more attention to African countries, Putin said. "In the past five years, the Russian-African trade turnover has more than doubled, to over $20 billion," which is still "very little," he said. The potential that exists "allows us to count on further growth of trade indicators, and I think it's absolutely within our power to double the trade turnover again in the next four to five years. That's at minimum," Putin said.