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p In 1920, when the Civil War and foreign intervention were still in progress in Soviet Russia, Lenin told the Second Congress of the Comintern: "It is unquestionable that the proletariat of the advanced countries can and should give help to the working masses of the backward countries, and that the backward countries can emerge from their present stage of development when the victorious proletariat of the Soviet Republics extends a helping hand to these masses and is in a position to give them support.”  [151•1 

p Soviet economic and technical aid to the former colonies in the period between the two world wars was of major international significance. For the first time a new type of equal relations resting on the principles of internationalism and friendship of peoples was established.

p In the post-war period the development of economic links between the Soviet Union and the former colonies entered a new stage characterised by a considerable growth of the number of countries with which the USSR effects cooperation, the inclusion of African states and many branches of their economy into this cooperation and the increasing of Soviet economic and technical assistance designed to promote their national economic development. This cooperation has become an important feature of Soviet policy and of all international relations in the contemporary world.

p The Soviet Union’s first agreements on economic and technical cooperation signed after the Second World War with Africa were with Egypt (1958), Guinea and Ethiopia (1959). 152 By the beginning of 1978 it had similar agreements with 32 African countries, where 237 industrial enterprises and other projects have already been built with its assistance and 172 are currently under construction.

p The main aim of Soviet economic and technical cooperation with independent African countries, just as with other developing countries, is to help them achieve economic independence. At the same time the USSR shares the conviction of the leaders of independent African states that they have to solve their vital economic, social and cultural problems mainly by their own effort, and that foreign aid is of an auxiliary nature for them.

p The basic principles of the Soviet Union’s economic and technical cooperation with African countries are: consistent and undeviating respect for the equality of the partners, mutual benefit, respect for sovereignty and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. It is not based on any political or other conditions that are detrimental to the national interests of the young states. The Soviet Union seeks no privileges or advantages, and promotes economic relations with those African countries that are interested in them, irrespective of their socio-political system or orientation.

p In defining the substance of agreements on economic and technical cooperation, the USSR proceeds from the vital needs of its partners. Complying with the wishes of the governments of independent African countries, the Soviet Union helps them build and operate industrial enterprises, agricultural, transport and other projects, develop natural resources, explore and mine useful minerals, and train national personnel.

p Specifically, Soviet-African economic and technical cooperation (see Table 4) envisages that 

p Soviet organisations lend their services in design, engineering and planning, provide scientific, technical and technological documentation, deliver sets of equipment, machines and machinery with spare parts, and building materials for projects under construction;

p Soviet specialists help to’build, assemble, launch and operate industrial and other projects, and also to conduct geological prospecting;

Soviet organisations provide assistance in setting up national geological prospecting, designing, research and other organisations; 

153 Table 4 Distribution of Projects Built with Soviet Assistance in Various Branches of African Economy (as of 1 January 1977) Total Industry Agriculture Transport and com munications Geological prospecting Education, health and other branches Number of projects 409 137 68 16 37 151 Outlays (% of total) 100 70.9 7.2 3.4 5.8 12.7

p Soviet organisations provide assistance in drawing up national plans for socio-economic development and setting up national economic administration;

p Soviet organisations help to train national personnel, including skilled workers and specialists who will build and operate industrial enterprises and other projects constructed with the help of Soviet organisations;

p Soviet organisations send specialists in the capacity of advisers, consultants and experts at the request of African countries.

p It follows that cooperation embraces the key branches of the economy of the developing African countries. But the sphere of material production, industry in the first place, has become the leading trend in their economic development.

Not only individual enterprises are going up with Soviet assistance, but whole industrial complexes which utilise local resources and thus promote the growth of related branches of the economy. For instance, the Aswan hydropower complex which was built in Egypt with Soviet assistance includes a large hydropower station which supplies electricity to an aluminium factory, the Helwan metallurgical complex and a number of other power-intensive projects currently under construction, a giant irrigation system and a ramified network of power transmission lines. In Algeria, the USSR is helping to enlarge the Annaba Metallurgical Plant with the view to raising its annual capacity to 1.8-2 million tons of steel, and to build a number of important mines and other projects.

154 Table 5 Aggregate Capacity of Industrial Enterprises Built or Under Construction with Soviet Assistance in African Countries (as of 1 January 1977) Types of production Production capacity Pig iron (mln tons) Steel (mln tons) Iron ore (mln tons) Oil products (mln tons) Cement (mln tons) Metal-cutting lathes (units) Power stations (installed capacity, mln kw) 2.75 4.4 3.5 2.65 1.65 1,620 2.9

p In the first place Soviet assistance helps some African countries to create their own industrial base. At the same time enterprises of the light, food and other industries are also being built.

p The Soviet Union is helping to build irrigation systems, state grain and cattle farms, farm machinery repair shops, veterinary and zootechnical laboratories and stations, elevators, experimental stations and other agricultural projects in many African countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda.

p With Soviet assistance African countries are setting up research institutions, such as an atomic reactor in Cairo which has enabled Egypt to use atomic energy for peaceful purposes, a central veterinary research laboratory in the Sudan, a petroleum laboratory and experimental agricultural stations investigating the cultivation of food and industrial crops on irrigated lands in Algeria, a research centre including oceanographic and heliotechnical laboratories in Guinea and a complex laboratory in Nigeria.

p Assistance in the training of national personnel occupies an important place in Soviet-African economic and technical cooperation. It is provided by the Soviet Union in diverse forms, including the construction of numerous institutions of higher and secondary education and vocational training centres.

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Hospitals, clinics and maternity homes have been and are being built with Soviet help in African countries. Hundreds of Soviet medical staff work in developing African countries where they enjoy deserved respect.