West Turns to Africa for Natural Resources Due to Ukraine Crisis, Angolan Ambassador Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Western countries have turned toward the African resources and aspire to develop economic cooperation with the region as a result of the Ukrainian conflict, Angolan Ambassador to Moscow Augusto da Silva Cunha told Sputnik.

"I must mention the situation resulting from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Western countries nowadays literally run to Africa, including Angola, in order to develop economic cooperation with the region. We both know that there is a lot of natural resources in Africa," the ambassador said.

Angola and other African countries are frequently invited to participate in various forums, such as U.S.-Africa Business Forum, Africa-France Summit, Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and so on, da Silva Cunha noted.

"This demonstrates that the resources for further survival are in Africa," the ambassador added.

Angola has one of the largest gas reserves in Africa after Nigeria and Mozambique. The country’s gas reserves amount to 308 billion cubic meters. The country also has significant oil reserves of about 7 billion barrels.

Russian Ambassador to Angola Vladimir Tararov said in May 2022 that Angola was yet unable to substitute Russian gas supplies to Europe due to lack of necessary infrastructure, despite the initiatives of European diplomats.

Western countries rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Russia after it launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, with the European Union pledging to end its dependence on Russian energy supplies