He Average time to obtain an entry visa to Russia for a student from Senegal or Benin is one week. This facility highlights the prominence that Moscow wants to give to West Africa not only in economic but also in cultural cooperation, such as the exhibition of paintings by 12 contemporary artists that Russia is exhibiting this month in an art center in the Senegalese capital.
This week the Russian shipping company C-Shipping confirmed that it plans launch next year a sea route that will connect the port of Saint Petersburg with West Africa. According to Alexey Gagarinov, CEO of C-Shipping, the company plans to operate two vessels to ensure regular monthly flights. In 2021, the trade volume between Russia and Senegal was approximately $230 million. In 2022, this bilateral trade experienced significant growth due to Russian exports of wheat and energy products to Senegal, reaching a volume of $500 million. That is to say: the Hiperdino supermarket chain in Las Palmas moves twice as much money per year as Russia spends on products to Senegal.
Moscow is hell-bent on disrupting France’s waning leadership in West Africa. Delegations from all African countries will participate in the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in Sochi, which will take place on November 9 and 10. It has offered to set up a factory for the Kamaz truck brand, based in the Republic of Tatarstan, and recognized worldwide for the robustness and reliability of its vehicles with a production of more than 53,000 units per year, Kamaz is an undisputed leader in the market Russian and throughout Eastern Europe. Its fame was also based on its impressive performances during the Dakar Rally, where its trucks won the competition 19 times, a record in the category.
Russia considers the participation of national companies in the construction of solar and wind power plants in Senegal “promising”, according to the Russian Ministry of Energy in a statement after a meeting held this October by the head of the ministry, Sergei Tsivilev, and the Minister of Energy and Petroleum and Mining of Senegal, Birame Souley Diop. During the meeting, the ministers discussed issues of cooperation in multilateral formats, in particular, within the framework of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the partnership in the electricity sector, including renewable energies, as well as perspectives of interaction in the field of hydroelectric energy and responsible use of water.
While the UN special envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan De Mistura, has proposed that the part of the former Villa Cisneros, north of Mauritania, be an independent State with full maritime rights, Russia is considering the possibility of creating ports in Africa to organize cargo flows with the countries of the continent. The largest volume of cargo traffic with Western Senegal comes from Russia. There are currently four ports operating in the country. These are Saint-Louis, Ziguinchor, Kaolack and the autonomous port of Dakar, one of the most important on the Atlantic coast of Africa along with Las Palmas. Local shipyards and port terminals are being built.
The port of Dakar is an independent state company with the rank of ministry, which consists of separate port areas (terminals) and a naval basein which there is also a contingent of the French Armed Forces and which is also used by the Civil Guard for its air units in order to meet Senegalese demands regarding immigration control towards the Canary Islands.
In Dakar the container terminal is managed by Dubai Port World and is saturated; but the port of San Luis is the Russian objective to be an intermodal center for cereals, fertilizers and petroleum products through its own terminal that is a free zone under the direction of the Maritime Captaincy designated by the National Maritime Agency of Senegal.
Geographically, on the Atlantic coast of Senegal there are enough suitable sites and a port terminal for bulk cargo and several ports of regional importance are being built. The main problem is the shortage of personnel in Russia to work on the continent. Roman Chekushov, director of the department of international cooperation and licensing in the field of foreign trade of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, maintains “there are several projects in Africa that should be implemented in the near future and one of them is the creation of a port in one of the African countries for the entry of Russian products, for the organization of cargo flow and Senegal, where the largest volume of cargo traffic coming from the Russian Federation and Russian products is known, this is quite logical “he says.
Further north, the economic zone of Mauritania became the first maritime research zone for the ship Atlantniro within the framework of the Great African Expedition. The catches in the control trawlers ranged between 17 and 6,000 kilos per trawl. The main catches are: jellyfish, crucian carp. In total, 19,209 kilos of aquatic biological resources were captured during the reporting period. The Atlantniro STM vessel was in Mauritanian waters from September 12 to October 10. A total of 24 bottom trawls were carried out. The return of the scientific vessel to Kaliningrad is scheduled for March 3, 2026.
As a counterpoint, in another cold country, if Russia tries to generate more interests in Africa, Norway has launched its ‘Strategy for Norway’s relationship with African countries’ in 2024 where it points out that “West African seas provide fish to feed Norwegian farmsincluding Mowi, the world’s largest salmon producer. “Therefore, more than half a million tons of fish from Mauritania and Senegal are used to feed Norwegian salmon every year.” Security in maritime transport is one of the keys to the new Norwegian agenda in West Africa.
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