Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Bogdanov discussed with the ambassadors of African states a set of issues related to the preparations for the second Russia-Africa summit scheduled for July 2023 in St. Petersburg, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced in a press release.
“The Russian side emphasized that the forthcoming forum is intended to become a key event in Russia's relations with the countries of the African continent, to determine their development in the long term, to make a significant contribution to building a fair multipolar world order, solving many global and regional problems,” the ministry said.
The ministry noted that it was proposed to the African envoys that the structure of the summit include political, economic and humanitarian areas of cooperation.
“Within the framework of the relevant panel sessions, an in-depth consideration of the issues of ensuring food and energy security on the continent, investment, industrialization, development of the agro-industrial complex, and cooperation in the fields of education, healthcare, science, culture, media, and sports is planned,” the Russian ministry said.
On 30 November, Bogdanov announced that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov might make two visits to Africa in January-February of 2023 and visit eight countries in the continent. According to the official, invitations have been sent to all African countries.
In the meanwhile, ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Oleg Ozerov earlier said that the summit is set to discuss creating new tools and mechanisms for cooperation between Russia and Africa. He argued that most African countries view Russia both as “an ally fighting the neo-colonial domination of the West” as well as an alternative market to the US and the EU.
The first Russia-Africa Summit took place in 2019 in the Russian city of Sochi, where the heads of states and governments of Russia and African countries, along with high-profile representatives of the leading economic regional organizations in Africa discussed prospects for developing Russian-African relations.