Russia-Africa Summit to take place in St Petersburg from

27-28 July
With leaders of most African countries expected to attend the second Russia-Africa Summit, can it
bring about a "new level of mutually beneficial partnership” between Russia and the continent?

June 19th, 2023

The second Russia-Africa Summit will take place in St Petersburg’s Expo Forum from 27-28 July 2023, with leaders from the

The Summit had originally been scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa in October 2022, but was postponed by Russia’s Presi

The rescheduled summit was due to last four days, but on 21 June Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that it will b

The event marks “a serious rst step towards our economic and political return to Africa,” commented Russian Deputy Minis

What is the Russia-Africa Summit?

The organisers, Roscongress, describe the Summit as the “highest-level and largest-scale event in Russia-Africa relations” w

“The goal of the event is to promote e orts to strengthen comprehensive and equal cooperation between Russia and African

A political declaration is almost nished and is expected to be a consensus document, Russia’s ambassador at large, Oleg Oze

The event follows in the footsteps of other “Africa +1” summits such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Jap

The rst Russia-Africa Summit took place on 23–24 October in Sochi, a resort on Russia’s Black Sea coast. Held under the mo

Forty- ve African heads of state and two vice-presidents were in attendance, along with 109 ministers and the heads of the A

Addressing the Summit, Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the AU Commission highlighted the principles of the Africa-Russia s

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
A nal declaration was adopted envisaging the holding of future summits every three years.

What is the Economic and Humanitarian Forum?

The rst Russia-Africa Summit was accompanied by a Russia-Africa Economic Forum, at the end of which 92 contracts and m

Some 569 meetings took place at the Forum, which was attended by more than 6,000 participants, including 1,100 representa

It was decided to expand the 2023 edition of the Forum to include a humanitarian element. It will also include a large-scale ex

A programme of events has been announced, grouped into four thematic blocks:

The New Global Economy – this will focus on expanding business cooperation between Russia and African countries
Security – looking at how Russia’s experience in ensuring  security be bene cial to African countries
Science and Technology – key themes will be industrial cooperation as a means towards technological sovereignty and advanced techn
Humanitarian and Social Issues – covering cooperation in education, culture, sports, and empowerment for women and young people

There will also be a media forum, a meeting of university rectors and a roundtable of Russian and African auditing bodies.

There will also be a Creative Business Forum, a Healthy Life Forum, and a special cooperation forum between Russian and Afr

The events “will be aimed at comprehensively bolstering Russian-African cooperation and are intended to determine the ove

Presentations of opportunities that can be o ered to African countries will be given for heads of state and delegates by the lea

Africa and the Ukraine conflict

Many African countries have taken a neutral stance over the con ict in Ukraine. In a UN vote on 22 March 2022, just over half

Russia and Ukraine are both major exporters of fuel and grain and Africa has been hit hard by the increases in the prices of th

On June 16-17 a delegation of African leaders including President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President Macky Sall of Se

The African leaders told President Putin he should “show his desire to move forward [with peace]” before the summit, Presid

“We are facing the consequences of this war. We have big problems with our food security and agriculture. We buy fertilisers

“During this summit maybe we can have another meeting and have some progress. That’s what we hope,” he added.

“This war has to have an end… It must be settled through negotiations and through diplomatic means,” said President Ramap

South Africa’s neutral stance has been questioned in recent months, with the US ambassador accusing Pretoria of sending arm

Who will attend?

In an interview with the Russian newspaper Argumenty I Fakty on 4 April, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, accuse

“We certainly expect the participation of most African states in the summit,” Russia’s ambassador at large, Oleg Ozerov, told

In an interview with TASS on 25 March, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni con rmed his attendance.

“I will de nitely come to St Petersburg in July,” he told the agency. “We had a very good relationship with the Soviet Union, a

On 19 June, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told the event’s Organising Committee that 50 African heads of state had

Related articles

Review – Russia in Africa: Resurgent power or bellicose pretender?

Should South Africa arrest Putin at the 2023 BRICS Summit?
Kenya talks trade with Russia ahead of BRICS meeting
Could a BRICS currency challenge the US dollar?

Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum Programme

The Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum includes a programme of over 30 panel discussions and thematic even

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
The New Global Economy
The Sustainable Development of Diamond Mining Communities
SMEs in Russia and Africa: New Benchmarks for Partnership
Doing Business in Africa: Risks, Market Conditions, Opportunities
EAEU–Africa: Horizons of Cooperation
Russia–Africa: Prospects for Energy Cooperation
New Russian–African Logistics Routes

Integrated Security and Sovereign Development

International Security in Times of Geopolitical Instability: Cross-Party Cooperation
Stabilizing the Fertilizer Market to Eradicate Hunger in African Countries
African Food Security: How to Avoid a Crisis
Securing the Information Space: Challenges and Opportunities for Cooperation
Safe Africa
From Aid to Partnership: Working Together to Fight Epidemics
Electoral Systems amidst Challenges to Electoral Sovereignty: Legislation and Technology
International Cooperation in the Fight Against Corruption and Cross-Border Cartels

Cooperation in Science and Technology

Nuclear Technologies for African Development
Achieving Technological Sovereignty Through Industrial Cooperation
Cutting-Edge Technologies for Africa’s Sustainable Development
Bringing Russian Prospecting and Development Technologies to Africa
E ective Cooperation in Healthcare: Drugs, Innovation, Technology
Fundamental Science: The Cornerstone of Technological Sovereignty

The Humanitarian and Social Sphere: Working Together for a New Quality of Life
Humanitarian Cooperation Between Russia and Africa
Cooperation in Higher Education
New World Order: From the Legacy of Colonialism to Sovereignty and Development
Russia–Africa: Transferring the Best Educational Technologies for General, Vocational and Further Education
Cultural Products and Brands for a Creative Economy
Russian and African Women for Sustainable Development and Social Progress
Global Values as a Basis for Interaction in the Educational and Cultural Sphere
Sport: A Bridge of Friendship between Russia and Africa
The Role of Business in Promoting Humanitarian Policy Abroad

Media Forum
Sovereign Media and Combatting Disinformation: The Experience of Russia and African Countries
Multipolar Information World: The Role of Africa’s Arab Countries in the New Realities of International Relations

Meeting of University Rectors

Roundtable attended By Russian And African Supreme Audit Institutions
Click to see further details of the programme.

This article was updated on 12 July 2023.

African Business

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 Keep reading

Resources July 19th

Agrifinance grows in importance as farmers seek scarce capital

By Harry Clynch

Energy July 18th

How can Africa get a fair price for its carbon credits?
By Dr Desné Masie

Technology July 17th

M&A set to become the norm in the African startup ecosystem

By Davidson Oturu

Politics July 17th

US human rights designation could bring Ethiopia in from cold

By Harry Clynch

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com
 InFocus May 15th

Backbase

April 14th

Afreximbank

July 4th

Infra For Africa powered by Africa50

Africa50 will host the inaugural Infra for Africa Forum under the theme Bankable, Scalable, Replicable and will bring together
leaders from diverse sectors to share and harness their expertise on infrastructure investment pertinent to Africa’s
developmental needs.

Find out more

Convert web pages and HTML files to PDF in your applications with the Pdfcrowd HTML to PDF API Printed with Pdfcrowd.com