p The Soviet Government has invested the State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations of the USSR Council of Ministers with the functions of exercising economic and technical cooperation with foreign countries. This Committee conducts negotiations with foreign countries concerning economic and technical cooperation, draws up inter- governmental agreements, protocols and other legal documents. Soviet embassies in the developing countries with which the USSR maintains economic and technical cooperation have instituted the post of Economic Counsellor. Other agencies that are directly involved in cooperation are ministries, general suppliers, designing organisations and AilUnion Foreign Trade Associations (V/0). Factories in all the Union Republics of the USSR manufacture equipment for projects which are being built with Soviet assistance in African countries.

p Economic and technical cooperation between the Soviet Union and the developing countries rests, as a rule, on intergovernmental agreements. These agreements come in three basic types:

p agreements on economic and technical cooperation which list all the objects of cooperation, define mutual commitments and stipulate the size and terms of Soviet credits and other forms of payment for services rendered; 

p agreements which stipulate the size of Soviet credits but do not list concrete objects of cooperation and other mutual commitments which are later defined in supplementary protocols; 

p general agreements. These, as a rule, stipulate the forms of assistance which the sides are prepared to offer each other, while the volume, terms and objects of cooperation are subject to further negotiations and are finalised in supplementary documents.

p In addition, there are also inter-governmental agreements on cooperation in specific fields—geological surveying, designing of projects, training of national personnel, dispatch of Soviet specialists, etc.

p Following the signing of inter-governmental agreements, protocols or other legal documents on economic and technical cooperation, Ail-Union Foreign Trade Associations (in keeping with their particular field of activity) sign contracts with the relevant organisations of the developing countries, specifying the concrete commitments of the sides, fixing the time limits and cost of designing, engineering and planning work, deliveries of equipment and materials and also the remuneration of Soviet specialists for their services. Contracts also include the commitments of the client countries which ensure the construction of the projects and their exploitation with local materials, manpower, finances in local currency, and so forth.

p The signing of agreements and other contracts on economic and technical cooperation and the choice of the objects of cooperation is preceded by long and difficult work of substantiating the technical possibility and economic feasibility of the projects. This work is usually done jointly by Soviet and local organisations. Standing inter-governmental commissions for economic and technical cooperation are set up so as to ensure the timely fulfilment of agreements with a number of African countries and to determine fresh possibilities for cooperation.

p The scope and forms of economic and technical cooperation with African countries are determined with account for their specifics. This applies in the first place to the choice of objects of cooperation and its organisational forms and conditions. At the request of the governments of the partner countries which are economically more developed and possess a considerable economic potential, large industrial enterprises are built and help is given in industrialising the economy (in Algeria, for instance); as regards the less developed partner countries, the USSR, at the initial stages of their economic upbuilding, helps them to build chiefly small food and light industry enterprises which rapidly begin to operate at a profit. This does not mean, of course, that no individual heavy industry enterprises are built there. For instance, an oil refinery has been built in Ethiopia, a cement factory in Mali and bauxite mines in Guinea.

p It is very important for the African countries that Soviet cooperation with them ensures maximum utilisation of their available material and labour resources both in the construction and exploitation of projects. Soviet organisations send to these countries specialists and skilled workers whose professions are either non-existent there or are in great demand. This stimulates employment and raises the skill of their national personnel.

p Hence, Soviet organisations perform only those jobs with which African countries cannot cope on their own for the present. The expenses involved are, as a rule, covered by Soviet credits and this makes for their more rational use.

p Another form of Soviet-African cooperation is the construction of "turn key" industrial and other enterprises by Soviet and local building organisations. The Soviet Union assumes full responsibility for their construction, including the hiring and remuneration of manpower through subcontractors, and payment for building and assembly work and the putting of the project in operation.

p The construction of "turn key" projects is undertaken at the request of African governments. Such form of cooperation was effected in Guinea, Ethiopia, Mali and some other countries. In recent years African countries are displaying growing interest in it.

p The terms of economic and technical cooperation between the USSR and African countries are fixed with account for their possibilities, and cooperation is effected on the basis of strict observance of the principles of equality and mutual benefit.

p Deliveries of equipment and materials and also services rendered by Soviet organisations are paid 

p out of Soviet long-term credits;

p in installments at the expense of credits granted by private firms;

p in cash in freely convertible or national currency;

p in keeping with clearing agreements;

p at the expense of funds granted by the UN and its specialised agencies.

p Credits granted by private firms usually envisage the following system of payments: advance payment when contracts are signed and equipment, machines, mechanisms and materials are delivered, the remaining sum being paid 158 in installments over a period of five to eight years. Under the terms of_ Soviet long-term credits, payments begin either upon completion of the deliveries of equipment, or after the project has been put in operation and are made in equal annual installments over 12 years with 2.5 per cent interest on the sum of the used and unrepaid credit. This means that Soviet long-term credits can be repaid out of the profits of enterprises built with Soviet assistance.

p It is exceptionally important for African states, as it is for other developing countries, that the Soviet Union takes into account their possibilities and does not demand that its credits should be repaid only in convertible currency. At their request the USSR consents to payment in the form of their traditional exports and also the products of their national industry, including the output of enterprises built with its assistance. This enables African countries to save some of their convertible currency and acquire a stable commodity market that does not depend on demand fluctuations typical of the world capitalist market.

p The cost of the bulk of Soviet equipment, materials and technical services provided to industrial enterprises and other projects in African countries built up with Soviet assistance, is paid out of Soviet long-term credits. The Soviet Government agreed to grant easy payment terms to most developing African countries in view of their difficult currency and financial situation, limited sources of internal accumulation and narrow opportunities for financing capital construction. In the 1970s the majority of African countries, having used up Soviet long-term credits, started repaying their debt.

p In granting credits the Soviet Union paid particular attention to the group of African countries, classified by the UN as "least developed" (for instance, Guinea and Mali). It granted these countries, which inherited from colonialism the least developed productive forces, credits on the most favourable terms.

Meeting the request of the Government of Somalia the Soviet Union extended diverse economic and technical assistance to that republic, thus helping it to strengthen its independence. This cooperation, however, came to an end in 1977, and not through the fault of the Soviet side.