According to Malofeev, the agency is non-governmental body and consists of “consultants”: “We are committed to helping those countries that are trying to free themselves from economic and financial dependence [on] the Western world.” Real sovereignty, he said, begins primarily with economic sovereignty.
African countries, according to Malofeev, "are very interesting and attractive in terms of developing their potential, minerals, labour and consumption markets." Therefore, the agency also intends to act as a consultant for Russian companies interested in developing in Africa.
The founder and head of the agency is Mikhail Leshchenko who was a deputy head of Svyazinvest and an adviser to the Minister of Communications and Mass Media. The sixth president of FIDE and the first president of Kalmykia, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, became a consultant to the agency.
As Kirsan Nikolaevich said, “Unfortunately, in the nineties of the last century, we almost forgot about Africa. It was a mistake. They are still grateful to Russia and are open to cooperation with our country.
For our part, we are very much interested in such cooperation mainly in the economic sphere. A year ago, on the eve of his African tour Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that Africa will become the largest market in the coming decades. They are interested in a wide range of Russian goods and not only in weapons. These are food, technological equipment, fertilizers and much more.
Our joint projects in the field of geological exploration and the construction of energy infrastructure are already developing. Traditionally, Russian education and Russian teachers are highly regarded in African countries. And yet, work in the field of economics remains an untouched field.
Working at FIDE, I saw how important the support of African countries is. Historically, even despite some internal differences, the African states act united on the international scene. The Africa Group comprises all the 54 African Union member States, which make up 28 per cent of UN membership: imagine how important their support would be for our initiatives!
And, of course, we must not forget about the threat of religious extremism. Remember Sudan: we have a common problem and, unfortunately, a common front of the struggle that unites us with this country, and with many other African states.
Therefore, I very much appreciate the work of the leadership of our country, which pays much attention to Africa in the last decades. We are gradually (of course, I wish it was much faster) building up economic cooperation. Political engagement is also strengthening. One of the largest African countries, South Africa, is a member of the BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – that produces a quarter of the world’s GDP. And it is the Republic of South Africa, in my opinion, that will become the driver of the growth of this share.
I hope that the first Russia-Africa summit scheduled for October will launch the accelerated development of our cooperation. I repeat again: on this far-away continent there is everything: both natural resources and intellectual, hardworking people who are able to make it a new centre and driving force for the development of human civilization in the third millennium.”
In preparing this publication, we used information featured on the rbc.ru website.