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Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum

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Sport Becomes a Bridge Between Russia and Africa: World Friendship Games, Educational Programmes and Joint Training Camps

Cooperation in sports between Russia and African countries was the main topic of the session ‘Sport: A Bridge of Friendship between Russia and Africa at the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum.

Russian Minister of Sport Oleg Matytsin suggested expanding cooperation with African countries in terms of educational programmes, as well as in the field of high-performance and mass sports.

“Today, Russia is ready to offer a smart, competitive sports strategy for African countries, as well as a roadmap for its implementation. We propose to expand and organize joint training camps at Russian federal sports bases, conduct educational programmes for African specialists, and send Russian coaches to prepare African athletes for major international events.

Nelson Mandela, a great sports fan and a great man, once said: ‘Sport has the power to change the world. Sport has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. <…> It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination’,” said Oleg Matytsin.

Irina Viner, President of the Russian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, expressed her readiness to work with African athletes.

“Africa is very important to us now. It is a continent with brilliant athletes. There is a huge potential in sports there, including rhythmic gymnastics. I have always dreamed of having a girl from Africa on my team. We can offer our theories and practices of sports development,” said Irina Viner.

Umar Kremlev, President, International Boxing Association, noted in his speech that sport should unite people.

“When you take the flag away from an athlete, you humiliate them, because an athlete competes on behalf of their nation. He feels pride precisely because their national anthem is being played and the flag is being raised. Let’s take our responsibilities seriously,” said Umar Kremlev.

The World Friendship Games will be a large-scale tournament in which all athletes will perform under the flags of their countries. At the session, Alexey Sorokin, Head of the Organizing Committee of the Games, spoke about where and when the competitions will be held.

“We feel the demand for new competitions where there is no place for slogans and politics, where it is all about sport. That is why we created the Friendship Games, a multi-sport tournament in 27 athletic disciplines. These competitions will unite all countries that want to participate without regard to political views. The only criterion in these Games is sporting achievements. This is not an alternative to the existing formats, but a powerful addition to them with a significant prize fund. The tournament will be held from 15 to 29 September 2024 in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” said Alexey Sorokin.

Stanislav Pozdnyakov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee, continued the theme of eliminating discrimination in sport.

“Sport is one of the most important components of humanitarian cooperation between our countries. As a trendsetter in sport, Russia is always ready to share its practices. In this part, it is very telling that a friend in need is not just in their words, but in their actions. We understand now who our real friends are, and who has been pretending to be,” Stanislav Pozdnyakov emphasized.

Representatives of African countries also took part in the discussion. All African speakers emphasized that their countries were looking forward to expanding cooperation with Russia.

“Russia has great experience in training athletes. Cooperation with Russia inspires our athletes as your country is known for great achievements in sport,” said Adam Mthethwa, President, Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association.

“When Namibia was just on the road to independence Russia supported us as a friend. And we appreciate that very much. When we got our independence, Russia was also with us. And this relationship has lasted for a long time," said Abner Xoagub, President, Namibia National Olympic Committee. 

“Our dream is to win medals at the Olympics through cooperation with Russia. I hope that Russia will help us to achieve this goal," said Alioune Traore, Technical Director of the Malian National Olympic Committee.

Also taking part in the discussion were Svetlana Orlova, Auditor of Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation; Roman Rotenberg, First Vice-President, Russian Ice Hockey Federation; and Vyacheslav Ekimov, President, Russian Cycling Federation.

 

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“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