Ahmad 
Russia has completed its initiative to ship 200,000 tonnes of free grain to six African countries, as promised by Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said.
Patrushev said during a meeting on Tuesday, attended by President Putin, that Russia had shipped 50,000 tonnes each to Somalia and Central Africa and 25,000 tons each to Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, and Eritrea.
Patrushev assured Putin that after the Russia-Africa summit “we maintained relations with African countries and strengthened cooperation, and as a result we were able to deliver this amount of wheat to these countries very quickly.”
Patrushev predicted that Russia will export about 70 million tons of grain in the 2023-2024 agricultural year, noting that in the previous season it exported 66 million tons worth about $ 16.5 billion.
Earlier, Putin stressed that Moscow would do everything possible to continue supplying grains, food and fertilizers to African countries, and pointed out that Moscow is actively developing economic relations with Africa, whether with each country separately, or with regional integration organizations, including the African Union.