WINDHOEK (AFP) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday called for boosting trade with Namibia, at the start of the first visit by a Kremlin chief to the uranium-rich southern African nation.

"We should have started work with our African partners a long time ago," Medvedev told reporters after talks with his Namibian counterpart Hifikepunye Pohamba.

The talks produced few major announcements, but Medvedev used the visit to highlight Russia's desire to reassert Moscow's influence on a continent where many countries were once under the Soviet sphere of influence.

"Africa is waiting for our support. The civilised part of mankind, as it is accustomed to be called, should pay its debts to Africa," he said.

"Our policies here will be very friendly and at the same time pragmatic. We also don't have that difficult dark colonial history which many other countries have" in Africa, he said.

Medvedev said he hoped Soviet ties to Namibia, including support for the country's ruling SWAPO party in its independence struggle, would pay back now.

"We of course without envy watch our partners come to Africa. But at the same time, we would like to promote our companies," he added.

Pohamba acknowledged the Soviet assistance during the Cold War and said his nation was also keen to "strengthen our cooperation" and build a "durable economic partnership."

"We would like to secure access of our products to Russia," he added.

Medvedev said he had discussed expanding cooperation in energy, including on Namibia's vast uranium deposits.

Yury Trutnev, Russia's natural resources minister, said Moscow was interested in helping Namibia develop its nuclear industry. "Namibia very much needs to develop its energy sphere," he said.

Russia has started exploring for uranium in Namibia and hopes that one of the fields will yield between 20,000 and 30,000 tons of uranium, Sergei Kiriyenko, chief of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said earlier this week.

Namibia in 2007 awarded an exploration license to a joint venture led by Tekhsnabexport, a Russian state firm that sells uranium.

Many officials acknowledge that Russian businesses have arrived in Namibia five to 10 years late. "We are late indeed," said Alrosa diamond monopoly chief Sergei Vybornov.

In Africa, Russia faces competition from Chinese and Western companies.

The Russian leader is on a four-nation African tour that has energy at the centre of the agenda.

His stop here placed the spotlight on uranium deposits in Namibia's deserts, and Russian demand could make the country the top producer of the nuclear fuel.

Streets in the Namibian capital Windhoek were festooned with Russian flags and black and white portraits of Medvedev, who was welcomed by dancers, some in traditional costumes, beads and animal skins.

A military band and honour guards in white and blue uniforms also greeted Medvedev as he arrived at the state residence for the talks with Pohamba.

After the talks, Medvedev was set to visit Okapuka park -- famed for its rhinos, giraffes and crocodiles -- and to meet Namibia's independence leader and former head of state Sam Nujoma.

Medvedev has already visited Egypt and Nigeria, where on Wednesday he announced that Russia was ready to invest billions of dollars in Nigeria's energy sector.

The two countries signed an agreement with Gazprom, unveiling plans to link vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe via a Trans-Saharan pipeline.

On Friday he will make his final stop in Angola, where the government once relied heavily on Moscow for support in a civil war that became one of the world's bloodiest Cold War battlefields.

Angola now rivals Nigeria as Africa's top oil producer, making its post-war economy one of the fastest growing in the world.