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The Russian President has addressed participants and guests of the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum

The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has sent greetings to the participants and guests of the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, to be held in St. Petersburg on 27–28 July.

“Today, Africa is, with increasing confidence, asserting itself as one of the poles of the emerging multipolar world,” says the greeting. “Positive changes are gaining momentum here in manufacturing and agriculture, in transport infrastructure and the fuel and energy sector, in health care and education, and in other areas.”

The Russian head of state noted that Russia supports the aspirations of African states for socio-economic stability and progress. “It is important that in recent years our cooperation with Africa has reached a new level,” Vladimir Putin emphasized. “We intend to further develop it: to stimulate trade and investment, to deepen cooperation, to work together on such pressing issues as the fight against poverty, training a modern workforce, food security, and climate change. And of course, we will continue to assist our African partners in every possible way in strengthening their national and cultural sovereignty, and in playing a more active role in addressing regional and global issues.”

The Russian President also expressed confidence that the Forum will become an important event in Russian–African relations, and that it will ensure relations become even more multidimensional and comprehensive.

Source: kremlin.ru

“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