The key facts

  • The Putin–Sassou Nguesso meeting is taking place at the Kremlin on October 29
  • The Russian delegation is led by Deputy Prime Ministers Siluanov and Novak
  • Priority areas are energy, geological exploration, logistics and agriculture

Meeting at the Kremlin

On October 29, Russian President Vladimir Putin began talks with President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso; the meeting is taking place at the Kremlin, Gazeta.Ru reports. The Russian side at the talks is represented by a broad delegation: Deputy Prime Ministers Anton Siluanov and Alexander Novak, Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov, as well as the heads of Rosatom, Rospotrebnadzor and the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation.

Topics of the talks and context

The main focus of the dialogue is on economic cooperation. Putin previously spoke about broad prospects for bilateral relations, naming energy, geological exploration, logistics and agriculture among the strategic areas. The composition of the Russian delegation — including deputy prime ministers and the head of Rosatom — indicates that the discussion is practical in nature and covers several industry areas at once, although no specific agreements from the meeting are given in the publication so far.

The African dimension

The meeting with Sassou Nguesso took place shortly after Putin's talks with the President of Namibia Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who took part in the third Russia–Africa Summit. At the summit, the Russian leader emphasized that Moscow is interested in developing trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation with all African states. Sources did not report on the content of the agreements with Congo and Namibia, or on the documents signed, at the time of publication.