Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente has called upon Russians to invest in Africa, saying the continent has a lot of opportunities to offer.

He made the remarks on Thursday, June 3, while addressing the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a business event that takes place annually in Russia under the patronage of President Vladimir Putin.

During his address at the opening of the forum, Ngirente said that Africa has great opportunities that investors from Russia can take advantage of.

Among these, he pointed out the continent’s young population and workforce, the fast rate at which urbanization is taking place, and the huge potential that has been demonstrated in technological progress in areas like telecommunications and digitization of the society.

"Therefore, advancing our common prosperity agenda would imply translating the existing business opportunities into reality. And this calls for important flows of investments in priority areas,” he said.

In addition, he also pointed at the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and regional integrations of economic communities as another priority to advance quickly Africa’s growth agenda and position the continent as an investment destination.

"This could be an opportunity for Russian businesses to invest in infrastructures such as roads, railways, ports, hydropower plants, and internet connectivity that facilitate trade on the continent of 1.3 billion consumers. The investment required is estimated at $130 billion to $170 billion per year,” he said.

Zeroing in on Rwanda, Ngirente told his listeners that the country has created a conducive business environment by adopting business-friendly approaches and eased bureaucratic processes.

"Rwanda’s ability to attract more FDIs is also a reflection of tireless efforts to improve the Ease of Doing Business, where for the last 3 consecutive years, the country has ranked 2nd on the African continent,” he said.

He appreciated the existing cooperation between Rwanda and Russian Federation, which mainly focuses on scientific development in health, agriculture, mining, energy, water and education among others, as he noted that there is room for more.

"There is need to scale up Russian investment in these and other areas of infrastructure as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Premier also reflected on the effect of Covid-19 on the world, and called for efforts recovery, especially ensuring availability of vaccines for all people,

"As we are working to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, the first priority is availability of sufficient vaccines for all,” he said.

He also highlighted the need for Africa to build its own capacity, working together with partners including Russia, to undertake scientific research to manufacture vaccines for various diseases, including Covid-19.