Enhancing Global Trade and Digital Connectivity for Inclusive Economic Development

Abstract
This paper explores Russia’s role in moulding global trade and digital connectivity as a force for inclusive economic development in Africa — and Zambia in particular. This study employs a mixed methods approach, using quantitative trade statistics combined with qualitative policy and investment analysis, to understand Russia’s investments in trade facilitation, digital infrastructure and financial inclu sion. Another main conclusion is that Russia is expanding its trade relations with Africa through bilateral negotiations that boost the exports of financial technology and encourage technology transfer via, inter alia, mobile money services, inclusivity and broadband expansion. The study finds that increased trade policy, digital transformation and financial inclusion can lead to sustainable development and continued economic gains for all. Keywords: Global Trade, Digital Connectivity, Financial Inclusion, Russia-Af rica Trade, Technology Transfer, Economic Development, FinTech, Zambia, Bilateral Agreements, Digital Infrastructure

Introduction
Trade and digital connectivity are key enablers of economic development in our connected world. Countries that channel large investments on trade enablers systems, e.g. digital and financial (FinTech) systems, enjoy better growth, less pov erty, and participate more in global trade. As a key stakeholder in the global econ omy and a partner in various initiatives for bolstering trade, digital transformation, and sustainable economic growth, Russia has been working to establish such partnerships with African states. Through a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative trade statistics with qualitative analysis of policy reports and expert interviews, this paper examines these issues.

Methodology
This mixed-methods research study uses quantitative and qualitative analysis to evaluate the effects of Russia’s trade and digital investments in Africa. Russia's Role in Global Trade Expansion: Focusing on strategic partnerships and economic accords, Russia has aggressively followed a multifarious approach to increase its worldwide trade presence. Important projects include member ship in the BRICS group, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the termination of bilateral trade deals with several African nations to improve ties to rising nations.

Union of Eurasian Economics (EAEU): Comprising Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, the EAEU is a regional economic group founded in 2015. Between the member states, the union seeks to enable the free flow of goods, services, capital, and labour as well as to build an integrated single market with roughly 183 million people. Russia's GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2023 came out to be roughly 6.45 trillion dollars, ranking first among the EAEU's economies. Apart from its direct membership, the EAEU has also actively finalised trade agreements. It has especially inked trade cooperation agreements with Vietnam, Iran, Singapore, and Serbia. The EAEU inked a trade cooperation deal with China in 2018 and is presently negotiating with India, Israel, and Egypt to increase its trading network even more.

BRICS Consortium: Russia is a founding member of BRICS, a group of five big rising economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. These countries taken together make for a noteworthy share of world economic production. The chiefs of state and government of the BRICS Summit 2024 in Kazan, Russia, debated several projects to increase economic cooperation, including the creation of a BRICS Grain Exchange and a cross-border payment system to lower reliance on the US dollar. Underlining the group's increasing impact on the world economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin underlined that economic growth in the BRICS countries is predicted to reach 3.8% in 2024/25, surpassing the worldwide growth rate of 3.2 to 3.3%.

Bilateral Trade Agreements with African Nations:
Through a series of bilateral trade agreements and summits aimed at increasing cooperation, Russia has gradually been solidifying its economic relationship with African countries. The 2023 Russia–Africa Summit allowed Russia to approach African states in multiple aspects: in trade, security, and the development of infrastructure. During the meeting, Russia presented initiatives to deliver grain to African countries to improve food security, and discussed potential investments in the energy and mining industries.

Case Study: Russia-Kenya Trade Relations: Kenya and Russia have had diplo matic relations since 1963 and their trade ranges across multiple sectors. Bilateral trade stood at about $340 million in 2018, with Kenya exporting goods worth $124 million to Russia and importing items worth $216 million. Kenya's exports to Rus sia include cut flowers, coffee, tea, fruits and vegetables, whereas Russia supplies grains, iron and steel, fertilisers and papers to Kenya.

Case Study: Russia-Uganda Trade Relations: Trade Relations Between Russia and Uganda Russia has also developed a bilateral trade relation to Uganda for years. Ugandan exports to Russia peaked in 2021 at $18.1 million and Russian exports to Uganda at $90.2 million. The major traded commodities are grains from Russia and produce from Uganda. As such, Russia has greatly enlarged its participation in international trade via greater engagement within regional groupings such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and checking into BRICS, in addition to the signing of bilateral commercial agreements with its partners in Africa.

Russia-Zambia Trade Relations: A Case Study: Russia and Zambia have maintained diplomatic and commercial relationships since Zambia gained independence from the British in 1964. Their bilateral trade has extended onto several domains, such as agriculture, mining and technology.

Trade Dynamics: Russia exported an estimated value of $4.55 million to Zambia in 2021, with fertilisers being the main category of export at around $4.11 million. Other Russian exports to Zambia included organic chemicals ($164.93K), sugars and sugar confectionery ($83.16K), and electrical equipment ($47.12K) (Trading Economics, 2025). On the other hand, Zambia's exports to Russia have been fairly modest. Tobacco products accounted for most of Zambia's exports to Russia in 2018 showing the close financial links between the two countries from an agricultural standpoint (World Bank 2018).

Investment and Cooperation: Besides trade, Russia and Zambia have also talked about investment opportunities and the possibilities of technical coop eration. To further deepen economic cooperation, the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Zam bian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2019. This marked renewed inter est among Russian businesses in the Zambian market. However, in mid-2019, the regional director for Africa and the Middle East at LUKOIL held talks with Zambian officials about a possible oil refinery in the Copperbelt province and the supply of petroleum products to Zambia (Embassy of Russia in Zambia, 2025). This Saint Petersburg-based enterprise that produces microbiological preparations for agri culture has been developing a strategy for establishing a facility for the production of "Extrasol", a microbiological fertiliser, as well as five demonstration farms, in Zambia (Embassy of Russia in Zambia, 2025)." Bisolbi-Inter LLC. These efforts mirror a mutual interest in expanding economic cooperation beyond traditional trade, into areas like energy and agriculture. Recent Developments: According to the Embassy of Russia in Zambia, the bilateral trade turnover in 2019 amounted to $98.2 million, with a steady growth trend over subsequent years. This rise highlights the strengthening economic con nection between the two countries (embassy of Russia in Zambia, 2025). Over the last decades, Russia’s and Zambia’s economic rapprochement has developed in line with the two countries’ economic priorities to diversify their trading and investment partners. While traditional sectors such as mining and agriculture remain key, emerging partnerships in energy and technology investments high light a broader scope of cooperation, aimed at supporting sustainable economic development in both countries.

Digital Connectivity as a Catalyst for Inclusive Growth: Globalization, especially economic inclusiveness driven by digital connection, offers the opportunity of access to markets, financial services and general knowledge. Thus, Russia's expertise in developing digital infrastructure has facilitated the improving con nection in numerous countries across Africa including Zambia.

Contributions of Russia in Digital Infrastructure of the Africa: Russia continues to play an active role in projects designed to boost digital infrastructure across Africa. An illustration of this is the deployment of the AngoSat-2, a geo stationary communications satellite developed through a partnership between Angola and Russia. AngoSat-2, which was launched on 12th October 2022, is intended to provide broadcasting and telecommunications services in Angola and around those regions, thus sharing digital connectivity and access to information (AngoSat-2, 2022). In addition to satellite communications, Russia has previously expressed its interest in scaling up assistance towards broader infrastructure projects across Africa. Roughly at the same time, at events such as the International IT Forum held in Moscow, discussions focusing on how Russian technology would assist in solving infrastructure challenges —96 including those associated with digitalisation (Digitalisation of Africa on agenda held in Moscow, 2023)

Enhancing Zambia's Digital Landscape: While specific Russian-Zambian efforts at large-scale digital infrastructure are poorly documented, there have been some joint moves to develop Zambia's digital capacity. The embassy of the Rus sian Federation in Lusaka facilitated an interaction between the Zambia Cham ber of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. Through these exchanges, Zambian digital infrastructure will flourish and Zambia will seek to enhance its cooperative economic endeavors, investment, and also technology transfer, which can unleash the 2023 Zam bian international relations. Zambia - the country - has also been very aggressive in building DPI. Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). Highlighting multiple angles of these digital efforts, the nation is presented as a case study on attitudes towards DPI in the Global South (Approaches to Digital Public Infrastructure in the Global South, 2023).

Implications for Inclusive Growth: The development of digital infrastructure in Zambia and other African countries has far-reaching consequences in what it can do to augment inclusive economic growth. Improved digital connectivity leads to increased access to financial services, e-commerce platforms and educational resources, empowering those at the margins of society. Innovative partnerships that aim at the development of digital infrastructure can significantly mitigate dig ital divide, stimulate economic inclusion and accelerate the sustainable develop ment in the continent.

Russia’s Investments in African Digital Infrastructure: Russia is participat ing in what can be regarded as Africa's digital transformation through partner ships with state-owned enterprises and private companies alike. Cooperation also allowed for telecommunication projects like satellite internet and fiber-optic net works to be executed, which ultimately increased connectivity for remote areas. Enhancing Digital Connectivity in Africa: In the field of digital technology, the Russian companies are very active, providing IT services, which is an important contribution to the development of African digital infrastructure. This includes data centres and fiber-optic networks, which are critical to supporting Africa's fast-growing technology market. Moreover, discussions on platforms such as the International IT Forum in Moscow have highlighted the potential of Russian technology to solve Afri ca’s infrastructure-related challenges, especially digitalisation.

Zambia’s Digital Transformation: Zambia has made some notable strides on the road to digital transformation. The 2023 National Payment Systems Annual Report for the Bank of Zambia reveals a significant growth of the National Pay ment System, with a 17.2% increase in value to K3. 02 trillion and 31.1% to 3.7 billion transactions, respectively, for 2023. This growth has been driven by an increasing adoption and reliance on Digital Financial Services (DFS), marked by high volumes of mobile payments, point of sale (PoS) terminals and remittances. Mobile money accounts in Zambia have seen significant growth. In 2022 there were 11,246,686 active mobile money accounts compared to 8,609,265 in 2020. Recently developments have allowed SMEs too of enhanced digital financial inclusion now with potentially impactful access to online banking and e-commerce platforms, With Russia's involvement in developing Africa's digital landscape and Zambia's innovative ideas from a digital standpoint, there is improved connectivity and increased financial inclusion. 

Economic Expansion, Current Insights: Existing data from international trade organisations, economic reports, and financial institutions have been analysed to determine the range of trade and digital connectivity impact on economic development.

Economic Growth Trends in the Face of Russia-Africa Trade: According to UNCTAD (2023), the BRICS states (with Russia) accounted for over 40% of developing countries' goods and services exports in 2022 (UNCTAD, 2023). Russia's foray into the African market is largely predicated on the prospect of natural resources, reinforcing a supplier-consumer relationship (Stronski, 2023); its total trade income with Africa in 2023 totaled $24.6 billion; Egypt, South Africa, and Algeria were its most important trading partners (Statista (2024).

Facilitating Digital Financial Inclusion in Zambia: The country has made significant strides in financial inclusion, particularly with the rollout of digital financial services. This progress has been driven by comprehensive national strategies and policies aimed at improving access to and the use of financial services by the population.

Policy Recommendations
 1. Strengthening Bilateral Trade Agreements: The following will contribute to strengthening Bilateral trade agreements: a) Facilitating Trade Policy Advance ment; b) Deepening Engagement in Regional Trade Institutions; and c) Investment in Export-Oriented Sectors.
 2. Improving Digital Infrastructure: This will include the following: a) Internet Access and Connectivity; b) Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs); and c) Enhancing FinTech and Digital Payments
 3. Enhancing the Technology Transfer: This will include: a) Fostering Research and Development Collaborative Alliances; b) Fostering Skills Develop ment and Training; and c) Supporting Russian–African startups. 4. Enhancing Financial Inclusion: The following will enhance financial inclusion: a) Integrating Russian Digital Finance Solutions; b) Strengthening Regulatory Frameworks; and c) Expanding Access to Credit and Microfinance

Conclusion: Global trade and digital connectivity — both are interdependent and contribute to inclusive economic development. Overall, Russia's investments, particularly in Africa and Zambia, in trade expansion, digital infrastructure, financial technology, and skills development demonstrate a critical piece of how strategic partnerships create opportunities for sustainable growth. In fact, by enhancing bilateral trade agreements, advancing digital transformation initiatives, facilitating technology transfer, and implementing financial inclusion programs, Russia and Africa have ample opportunity to develop a mutually beneficial relationship.