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The Chairman of Russia’s State Duma, Viacheslav Volodin, has urged African leaders to use the enormous natural resources of their countries to vigorously pursue sustainable development.

That, he said, was how to escape under-development, economic dependency, and neo-colonialism.

He added that Russia was ready with a comprehensive plan to deepen its economic cooperation with Africa.

He was addressing the three-day Russia-Africa inter-parliamentary conference held in Moscow.

He said “it is necessary to prevent the revival of neo-colonialism, the destructive attitude towards the African resources.

“To achieve this, the sovereign right of African states to build their own future must be protected.

“Russia has always advocated and stands for the observance of international law on the basis of the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.”

Mr. Volodin said both Russian and African parliamentarians would study issues concerning harmonization of legislation so that trade between them would be guided by legislative norms.

It would be right, using the capability of parliaments, to “facilitate the establishment of contacts between Russian and African businessmen and the exchange of information on possible cooperation projects”.

He announced that a memorandum on cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the African Union would be signed soon.

This memorandum would bring Russian-African trade and economic cooperation to a higher level and accelerate the growth of bilateral trade.

“In 2018, the volume of trade with the African continent increased by 17.2 percent in comparison with 2017 and amounted to US$20.4 billion.

“This is a good indicator but this, of course, is not enough,” he noted.