MOSCOW: Vladimir Putin told the leader of the war-torn Central African Republic on Wednesday he wanted to ramp up cooperation with the resource-rich country as the Kremlin seeks to regain influence on the continent.
"We will be pleased to consider various ways to intensify our relations, first and foremost in economic and humanitarian spheres," Putin told Central African Republic's President Faustin-Archange Touadera in Saint Petersburg.
Touadera thanked Putin for Moscow's help during "a difficult humanitarian situation" and "in the process of the country's consolidation and reconciliation".
"Our country right now is among the least developed but we have huge potential," he said in comments translated into Russian and released by the Kremlin.
"We have great expectations when it comes to possible future exchanges both in the economic and humanitarian spheres," said Touadera who will also attend an economic forum in Saint Petersburg this week.
Both Putin and Touadera praised the two countries' ties in the Soviet era.
During the Cold War the Soviet Union and the United States battled for influence in Africa.
The Kremlin is keen to rebuild Russia's presence in Africa as part of Putin's push to boost the country's status as a global power.
Divided by ethnic and religious strife between rival armed gangs, the CAR has been subjected to a United Nations arms embargo which was extended until February 2019.
But Russia has recently managed to win an exemption to sell weapons to the government in the Central African Republic and in December Moscow delivered a sizeable stock of weapons including handguns, assault rifles, machine guns and even rocket launchers.
Russia also won UN approval to offer weapons training to two battalions -- around 1,300 men -- of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) which is currently undergoing an overhaul.
Officially, the Russian programme aims at strengthening a ramshackle military in a country where swathes of territory are controlled by armed groups.
But the mission will clearly boost Moscow's influence in a struggling strategically-located state whose treasures include diamonds, gold, uranium and timber.
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