Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, October 23, wrote off over Ksh2 Trillion in African debt as part of an initiative to ease the debt burden of countries in the continent.
Prior to the inaugural Russia-Africa Summit in the Russian resort city of Sochi, Putin announced that Moscow would be writing off the debt accumulated by African countries during the Soviet era.
"The total sum of debt written off currently amounts to 20 billion dollars. Along with several other countries, joint programmes to put debts towards financing national economic growth have been launched.
"It was not only an act of generosity but also a manifestation of pragmatism because many of the African states were not able to pay interest on these loans," Putin was quoted by Russian news agency, TASS on the eve of the summit.
On Thursday, October 24, peace, security and trade were the overriding topics during a plenary session of the summit.
President Kenyatta stated that the summit was a turning point in the history of Russia-Africa relations since it created a new platform for crafting new mechanisms of cooperation between the two regions.
“Kenya will, among other things, endeavour to build bridges regionally and globally with a view to promoting collective peace and security, counter violent extremism and terrorism and enhance efforts towards the global environment and climate change agenda,” he stated.
On his part, President Putin pointed out that the summit, which would be held after every three years, would be used as a vehicle to deepen and strengthen Russia-Africa ties with the overall objective of achieving sustainable global peace, security and development.
The Russian leader pledged to continue supporting African nations in seeking solutions to their challenges.
"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia will continue supporting the African Union resolution that, African problems require African solutions," President Putin stated.
