Post #112

Paradoxes hinder the development of Russian energy projects in Africa During the seminar "African Energy Market: Development Trends and Problems", member of the AREA board, director of the International Business Acceleration Center Yulia Berg spoke about the problems that energy joint projects face during their implementation in Africa. In her report, the expert identified three paradoxes. The first is that all statistics indicate that most of Sub-Saharan population does not have regular access to electricity and there is no opportunity to build and develop industrial capacities. At the same time, the authorities of countries in need of energy projects cannot clearly formulate what capacities are strategically needed to develop industry and meet people's needs, since most of large projects depend on foreign financing and are outside of full control of the authorities. The second paradox, Berg said, is the approach of Russian energy companies to work on the continent. According to her, it is based on Soviet principles and government orders, so there is not much of initiatives taking into account local market realities. In fact, the Rosatom project in South Africa fell into such a trap. The state corporation did not pay due attention to PR and GR, which is why the project, associated with former President Jacob Zuma, literally sank after the head of state left office. “The second paradox is the very approach of companies that, on the one hand, are trying to integrate into new markets, but do so using their own patterns that are outdated even for the Russian Federation in many cases,” emphasized the member of the board of AREA. The third paradox, Yulia Berg noted, is the lack of opportunity to implement development strategies simultaneously in different areas. “That is, the reforms that are being carried out in the financial system, in the political sphere, in terms of attracting investment in industry or creating joint ventures - all this must go together. And we see very different approaches in different countries of the continent,” the expert noted. She added that there are different examples, and although the success rate of projects varies greatly, the pace of their implementation remains slow. #AREA#Africa#RussiaAfrica#Russia#Mali#energy