📝Rossotrudnichestvo's New Powers📝 Finally, Russia has its own USAID analogue. The Russian government has submitted to the State Duma a bill "On Promoting International Development." It consolidates various aid instruments for partner countries into a single mechanism, with Rossotrudnichestvo coordinating it. The agency oversees program implementation, inter-agency coordination, monitoring and effectiveness evaluation. Its main task is to ensure that ministries, state corporations, businesses and NGOs operate under common rules, rather than each doing their own thing. 🖍Last summer we analyzed the prospects for Rossotrudnichestvo's reformatting and warned: additional funding and new offices won't help if we don't change the approach on the ground. We need a public-private model, local partners and an end to reporting for reporting's sake. This is precisely the direction the reform is now taking. 🚩Take Africa as an example. Simply opening a cultural center is no longer enough. What matters is that local specialists study in Russia, enterprises operate on Russian technologies, and joint projects lead to long-term economic presence. When Rossotrudnichestvo's educational programs, Rosatom's expertise, the Agriculture Ministry's, Industry and Trade Ministry's and private business's competencies start working in tandem, that's a completely different scale. 🏳️The foundation for this already exists. In September, agreements were signed on 11 new partner Russian Houses, eight of them in Africa. Starting in 2027, micro-grants for overseas initiatives will be launched. A solid result for the first six months of the new leadership's work. "What matters here is not the number of events held or the volume of resources allocated, but concrete results that endure for years," emphasized Rossotrudnichestvo head Igor Chaika. ❗️Competition for influence in the Global South has long ceased to be waged at the level of diplomatic statements and cultural events: technologies, personnel training and economic ties are becoming decisive. The new law gives Russia a tool that will allow it to consolidate the state's, business's and public organizations' existing competencies into a single system. The key is not to lose sight of the main direction of the reform: more real work with partners on the ground and fewer formal metrics for reports. Only then will Russia's overseas presence become not just larger in scale, but truly sustainable. #Russia #softpower ✉️ MAX 💸Support us Original msg