Arab funds keen to work with Russia on projects in Africa

MOSCOW. Aug 8 (Interfax) - Arab funds are ready to participate in projects in Africa together with Russian companies, the chairman of the Russia-Sudan Business Council of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Viktor Chemodanov said in an interview with Interfax.

"We have a program and there is an understanding of the projects that need to be delivered. We are working with funds - these are funds from the Emirates, from Saudi Arabia - they are ready to enter the African continent together with Russian companies and participate in financing in some proportion," he said.

He said there was a lot of Western influence in many countries of the African continent, especially in those that were French or British colonies. "They still don't let them invest freely, control investments, keep track of their money - any initiative has to be authorized. They want to be free of this financial oppression, when, for example, some large project needs clearance from France or another country," Chemodanov said.

He said huge opportunities were opening up for Russia in a region where there was an acute shortage of electricity. "For example there are big prospects for hydropower south of the equator, where we have identified the Eastern Energy Zone. The most important thing is that we must not approach in such a way as to build some kind of unit and forget about it as if their poor networks are not our problem. On the contrary, we need to address these tasks on a turnkey basis, where we work everything out for them: flows, bottlenecks, where to smooth things out for some large industrial facility, and so on. And they are ready to pay for it," Chemodanov said.

"We are also working on logistics routes, because ports are one of our most important state strategic plans. We have such projects in Zambia, Mozambique and Gabon. These are the main areas. And Egypt, of course, where we are already building a large hub, the first nuclear power plant in Africa, oil and gas are being produced, and this is a big, big head start. But we need to look at other countries as well. And we are ready to help our businesses with this," he said.