South Africa/Russia Relations Forged in Struggle – Ramaphosa In Meeting With Putin

Riyaz Patel

The trade turnover between Russia and South Africa should be much higher than last year’s R14bn, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa Wednesday.

In 2018, bilateral trade climbed to 28.5% to $1bn, he said. “Of course, that is not enough, … that figure is too small. We can do much more and hopefully our today’s contacts will boost that development,” Putin said.

Ramaphosa said relations between democratic South Africa and Russia “spans many years and forged in struggle… In many ways a free South Africa is largely due the support it got from the people of Russia.”

Russia cooperates with South Africa in many areas, such as the development of resources, energy, industry, transport, agriculture and the humanitarian field, Putin said, adding that he finds it symbolic that the meeting is taking place on the sidelines of the first Russia-Africa summit.

Ramaphosa