Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch represented on Thursday King Mohammed VI in Saint Petersburg at the second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum attended by 49 African countries.
The Moroccan delegation taking part in the Summit included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, and the Moroccan Ambassador to Russia, Lotfi Bouchaara.
Algiers–laughably as always–sought polisario participation, buoyed by the presence of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the summit, but it was denied. For Moscow, such capitulation would present a conundrum which would imperil the integrity of Russia’s ties with Morocco, which it seeks to balance with those of its adversaries.
By attempting to make the polisario ubiquitous, the Algerian government continues to pigeon-hole itself far away from the strands of credibility.
Along the same line, Putin declared that trade transactions between Russia and Africa exceeded $18 billion in 2022. This had been one of the revelations of the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi.
He added that the Russian Federation is planning to set up branches of Russia’s largest universities in the continent, saying that upwards of 35,000 Africans are currently studying in Russian educational facilities.