On the other hand, Dr. Shoo noted that Russia is, so far, a closed market to many African countries. It is difficult to access the Russian market. However, African countries have to look to new emerging markets for export products, make efforts to negotiate for access to these markets.
Over the past several years since his appointment to the post, Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov has often said that trade between Russia and Africa would grow as more and more African partners continued to show interest in having Russians in the economic sectors in Africa.