The two-day meeting is being held in Sochi, southern Russia, and is intended to be recurring, according to the Russian representative Anton Kobjakov, who is close to President Vladimir Putin.
Both government representatives and business delegates from several African countries are present in Sochi for the meeting – which is also a way for Moscow to show that Russia is not internationally isolated despite the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The conference "draws a line over dirty hopes" of Russian isolation, said the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Maria Zacharova before the meeting, according to the Russian state-controlled news agency Ria Novosti.
"Making progress"
The immediate response from Burkina Faso was positive. The country, ruled by a military junta, announced through its foreign minister that a Russian partnership suits the country better than the previous close cooperation with France.
Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré said that Russia "is a partner with whom we can make progress together", and dismissed risks of becoming militarily dependent on Moscow.
The offer of cooperation with Russia suits our people better, said the foreign minister in an interview with the news agency AFP.
The government in Burkina Faso was overthrown in a military coup in 2022, and the military junta subsequently broke off the long-standing contacts with the former colonial power and replaced French military support with Russian.
"Other friends"
At the same time, Kenyan politician and former presidential candidate Raila Odinga, who hopes to become the next chairman of the African Union, said that cooperation with Donald Trump's upcoming government in the USA is fully possible.
If he wants to cooperate with Africa as a friend of Africa, then we welcome him and cooperate with him, said the 79-year-old politician in an interview with AFP.
But if he doesn't want to cooperate with Africa – then Africa has other friends, said Odinga.
