Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to Burundi and Equatorial Guinea in 2024.
This was revealed by Russian news agency, Sputnik Africa.
“Where is President Putin expected in 2024? Among the series of foreign visits to be made, two would target Africa: Burundi and Equatorial Guinea,” said the news agency this past Saturday.
In July 2023, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who was attending the Russia-Africa summit, invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to pay a visit to his country.
Putin’s trip to Burundi will be historic as it will be the first time he is setting foot in East Africa since he became President in 2001.
President Putin has visited only five African countries – Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and South Africa.
However, Putin last year said the comprehensive development of relations with African countries in politics, in security, and in the trade, economic and humanitarian spheres is an invariable priority of Russian foreign policy.
Russia, which has been isolated and sanctioned by the West over its war against Ukraine, has been deepening ties with Burundi over the past few years.
Russia’s nuclear industry – the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant
Burundi has vast resources of rare reserves of uranium needed for the development of nuclear industries.
Other untapped natural resources include vanadium which is used as a steel additive in the manufacturing of armour plates, piston rods and crankshafts; copper, cobalt and gold among others.
Burundi also has one of the largest global reserves of nickel which is used in batteries, including rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries and nickel-metal hydride batteries used in hybrid vehicles.
About 6 % of the global nickel reserves are in Burundi, placing it on the top 10 list of countries having significant untapped deposits of nickel. But its mining sector is still underdeveloped and dominated by artisanal mining activities.
Equatorial Guinea
Last year, Putin held talks with Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema in Moscow, where both leaders agreed to boost bilateral ties.
“The potential investment capacity is big, and your country’s capacity in developing these relations is also good,” said Putin, adding, “I am referring to the potential to do with, above all, the extraction of mineral resources.”
Equatorial Guinea, a small oil-rich central African country, is endowed with many mineral resources such as gold, diamond, uranium and gas.
President Nguema has since welcomed Russian companies for investment in his country and also thanked Russia for reopening its embassy in Equatorial Guinea.
Nguema told Putin that Russia is a traditional and strategic partner of Equatorial Guinea and the African continent, further expressing that Moscow contributed and fought for the independence of African states.
“Clearly, Africa is being heavily exploited at the moment. Africa needs to develop. More than a century has passed since Africa achieved independence, but we are still underdeveloped economically. Not because Africa cannot develop, but because our natural resources are being used – we are being exploited. And this hinders Africa’s development,” he said.
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