MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding talks with visiting President of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, a TASS correspondent reported.
The meeting is being held on the sidelines of the 8th summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum. Earlier in the day, the Russian leader supported Nguema Mbasogo’s proposals related to cooperation in the gas sector.
Diplomatic relations between the former Soviet Union and Equatorial Guinea were established on December 7, 1968. From the 1990s through the 2010s, bilateral dialogue was maintained at the level of the foreign ministries. In June 2011, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been leading the country since 1979, visited Russia for the first time. In July 2013, he participated in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum summit in Moscow, and in October 2019, he attended the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi. On both occasions, he met with Putin. In November 2023, he paid an official visit to Russia.
According to Russia’s Federal Customs Service, trade between Russia and Equatorial Guinea was $1.7 million in 2021 (further updates are unavailable). Meat and meat products accounted for 86% of Russia’s exports, which also included cardboard, paper, and timber. Timber and charcoal accounted for 100% of imports.
Currently, Russia and Equatorial Guinea are discussing Russian companies’ potential participating in the Central African gas transmission system project. This refers to an agreement reached in September 2022 by seven oil-and gas-producing countries, namely Angola, Gabon, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Chad, and Equatorial Guinea, to build a network of major oil and gas pipelines, oil refineries, and power plants to reduce dependence on the refining capacities of developed countries.