Russian Arms Exporter Says Signed $10Bln Worth Of Contracts With African States Since 2019

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th July, 2023) Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has signed 150 contracts with African countries since 2019, increasing its order portfolio by $10 billion, the company's director general, Alexander Mikheev, said on Tuesday.

The company will take part in the second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum to be held in St. Petersburg from July 27-28.

"The Russia-Africa Summit promotes the strengthening of comprehensive and equal cooperation between Russia and African countries in all areas � political, security, economic relations, science and technology, as well as cultural and humanitarian spheres. For the period since 2019, we have signed 150 contracts with our African partners and increased our order portfolio by more than $10 billion.

During this time we have expanded our presence to five more countries in the region," Mikheev told reporters.

He added that Rosoboronexport, together with its partners from more than 30 African countries, will develop new responses to the main challenges to African security on the sidelines of the summit.

The first Russia-Africa Summit took place from October 23-24, 2019 in the Russian city of Sochi. It was the first event of this scale in the history of Russian-African relations. Forty-nine African delegations are expected to attend this year's summit.