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The Roscongress Foundation signed a cooperation agreement with the Russian Cycling Federation

During the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, a cooperation agreement was signed to popularize and develop cycling in Russia. The agreement was signed by Alexander Stuglev, Head of the Roscongress Foundation, and Vyacheslav Ekimov, President of the Russian Cycling Federation and three-time Olympic champion, at the "Sport is the Norm of Life" stand.

"We want our Ladoga Gold race to catch up with the Five Rings of Moscow and the North Caucasus Peoples' Friendship Race. And then we will combine these three races into a single Tour of Russia. Our country is big and beautiful, but it is impossible to cover it all in one race or ten days. Cooperation with the Roscongress Foundation will allow us to organize these races at the highest level," said Vyacheslav Ekimov.

According to him, this year the Ladoga Gold race was attended by athletes representing the United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, but next year the organizers are expecting three or four teams from Africa.

"The forums organized by the Roscongress Foundation always include a large number of international sporting events, in which athletes from different countries willingly participate. But we also actively support the development of sports in the country, and I am glad that cycling has joined the Roscongress sports family," said Alexander Stuglev.

The Second Russia–Africa Summit and Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum are organized by the Roscongress Foundation.

Event website: summitafrica.ru/en

“We highly value the results of our joint work at the summit. I am sure the achieved results are creating a good foundation for further deepening the Russia-Africa partnership in the interests of our nations’ prosperity and wellbeing.”

President of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin

The Russia–Africa Summit, which is taking place in Sochi on 23–24 October 2019, encapsulates the historically friendly relations between the African continent and the Russian Federation. This Summit carries great significance as it is the first of its kind to emerge during a period of major global and international transformations. In response to the aspirations of the people it is representing, the Summit intends to build a comprehensive framework for expanding Russian–African relations into broader horizons of joint cooperation across different fields.

The African nations and Russia share a common understanding of international relations, based on the principles of respect for the rule of international law, equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of states, and the peaceful resolution of disputes. Both sides affirm their commitment to support multilateral actions to oppose new international threats, be they terrorism and extremism in all their forms, or declining growth rates. The two sides share a firm conviction regarding the importance of developing trade flows and supporting mutual investment in such a way as to ensure security, peace and development for the African and Russian people.

African countries have huge potential and opportunities that will allow them, once efforts to streamline their economies have been achieved, to emerge as real global players. In recent years, the nations of this continent have achieved major successes spanning the political, economic, social and administrative spheres. Africa has flourished in terms of growth over the past decade, reaching a continent-wide growth rate of 3.55% in 2018.

The African Union Summit, which was held in Niger in July 2019, continued the efforts of the African countries and saw the African Continental Free Trade Agreement come into force, along with its operational instruments. The agreement is one of the key objectives of Agenda 2063, an African development strategy that has been created to address the African people’s desire for prosperity and decent living standards.

These successes are opening up wide-ranging prospects for cooperation between African countries and the Russian Federation, and confirm the determination of African governments and their people to cooperate with multiple partners in order to establish mutually beneficial relations.

With this in mind, we express our hopes that the Russia–Africa Summit will help in the establishment of constructive strategic relations, based on partnership between two sides across various fields, and in the service of fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of the African people and their friends in Russia.

President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdelfattah ALSISI