Somali officials said that Russia has forgiven their country over $684 million in an agreement reached on the sidelines of a Russian-African summit in St. Petersburg.

After decades of civil war, Somalia, located in the Horn of Africa, is seeking comprehensive relief on external debts under the International Monetary Fund and World Bank initiative for indebted poor countries.

Somalia's Minister of Finance, Bihi Iman Aijay, said about the agreement with Moscow in a post on the ministry's Facebook page, "This step will play a major role in completing the country's debt relief process."

Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Ahmed Jama told the Russian news agency (RIA Novosti) that the agreement signed yesterday, Wednesday, between Aijay and Russian Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maximov pertains to Paris Club loans.

Jama also added that under the agreement, part of the debt will be canceled immediately while another part will be subject to repayment rescheduling.

The agreement with Somalia comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to use the St. Petersburg summit to strengthen relations with African countries and counter Western efforts to isolate Moscow due to its invasion of Ukraine.

Putin told African leaders today, Thursday, that he will give them tens of thousands of tons of grain within months, despite Western sanctions that he said make Moscow's exports of grain and fertilizers difficult.

Additionally, the International Monetary Fund said last October that if Somalia continues to make progress on reforms, it could reach completion point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative by the end of 2023, allowing it to reduce its debts to about $550 million from $5.2 billion.

Data from the International Monetary Fund indicates that Somalia owed Moscow about $695 million in 2019.