Having written off 20 billion dollars to Africa, Russia will receive much more

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During the Russian-African summit in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the cancellation of debt of $ 20 billion to countries on the African continent. Naturally, this news "Stirred up" the Internet community. Indeed, these funds, according to the majority, could be spent on the development of their own economics. So why did the president make such an “unpopular” decision, and what does our country expect to receive in return?

The thing is that the criticism that followed the announcement of the above-mentioned news is completely groundless. This debt has accumulated since the days of the USSR and was declared hopeless in the last decade. The amount written off by Russia of $ 20 billion, in fact, is only a figure, not real money.



Thus, our country not only lost nothing, but managed to gain something. Only at the summit in Sochi, contracts worth about 1 trillion rubles were signed. Africa is of great interest to our country as a market and supplier of valuable resources.

In addition, for this continent, a struggle has long been waged between China, Russia, Europe and the United States. Africa, along with the Arctic, is considered the last "human pantry." And the fact that 40 presidents of this region gathered at the summit in Sochi indicates a significant strengthening of the position of our country.

And finally, Russia simply didn’t have the opportunity not to write off the debt, since we are a member of the Paris Club. Our country joined the organization in 1997, which allowed us to restructure our own debt, but obliged us to write off debt to the poorest states.

However, unlike the USSR, which expanded its geopolitical influence, pumping Africa loans, we managed to strengthen our position on the continent by writing off old "bad" debts without issuing new loans. In addition, this is a common global practice. For example, the United States “does not disdain” to regularly write off debts to Israel.

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    1. 0
      29 October 2019 08: 57
      Here's how about Africa hooked. Maybe enough about her, hardly convince? How many positive comments have you had on this topic before?
    2. +3
      29 October 2019 09: 08
      They wrote that they had sorted out the last debts of the USSR by 2004.
      About 100 mln of debts written off - this is purely the Russian Federation.
    3. +3
      29 October 2019 09: 17
      It is necessary to adopt a law prohibiting write-offs of debts, not a single country in the world writes off such debts. Probably, EVERYONE lives well in Russia, although after watching TV, where slums are shown ... and then no one will say thank you and will soon forget, or even spit on the trail that will come tomorrow.
    4. +3
      29 October 2019 12: 03
      Putin is writing off Russia's debts, this is budget money, and preferences will be received by private companies, most of them offshore or work through "Western subsidiaries."
      It is necessary to legislate so that all companies operating in Africa under the "Putin program" eventually compensate for the losses of the Russian budget (written off 20 billion).
    5. +1
      29 October 2019 12: 17
      The essence of the article can be characterized by an "African" proverb: "When a hyena wants to devour its offspring, it seems to her that it smells like a goat ..."! The author is fluent in verbiage, "art" that allows a common idea to be declared absurd; and the absurd - healthy! So in this case, the absurd idea is declared sound! And that's why ... Suppose some country of "Goodwin" is so poor that neither now nor in the near future, it will not be able to pay off the debt and will not want to ... But over time, the situation changes ... "Goodwin" begins develop and grow rich! And now the economic development of the country prompts "Goodwin" to conclude an agreement with a certain international industrial and economic association in order to trade in its "zone" ... But the legislation of the association requires the "applicant" to have no debt to the members of the association ... So Goodwin will need "pay off old" debts! By "forgiving" debts to "Goodwin", the country is depriving "guaranteed" future generations of its citizens of the money that could, in the end, go to them ... As for the "Paris Club", then Russia is not "used to" yes to join "! Now in "shit", then in the "Paris Club"! And why shouldn't Russia declare that it is itself a "beggar" and needs funds no less than "some Goodwin" ?! And for this reason he cannot "forgive everyone"!