Second Summit
Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum

News

African adventures are calling: Russia and Africa strengthen tourism partnerships

As part of the ongoing partnership, a meeting was held with the Secretary General of the African Tourism Board (ATB), Hiwotie Anberbir, and representatives of the Roscongress Foundation to discuss prospects for tourism cooperation between Russia and Africa.

The African side presented the formats of joint work with foreign partners, paying special attention to the organization of joint outbound events, proposing to hold them in Russia, South Africa and Egypt in the format of a business mission of Russian potential investors in the African tourism industry. ATB expressed readiness to involve its contacts in the tourism ministries of African countries to support the proposed actions.

According to Alexander Stuglev, Chairman and CEO of the Roscongress Foundation, today comprehensive work is underway to implement applied initiatives aimed at expanding cooperation. “At the past Let’s Travel! Tourism Forum we signed a document on strategic partnership in the sphere of Russian-African business, commercial and recreational tourism with the African Tourism Board.  We see great potential for the development of our relations with African countries and are ready for proactive cooperation. Our meeting is a discussion of concrete initiatives of the two sides. I am convinced that a roadmap of our joint actions with the council will be approved in the near future,” he said.

As a result of the meeting, proposals were received from ATB on joint initiatives that can be implemented within the framework of the roadmap of cooperation with the Roscongress Foundation. The draft roadmap and the concept of organizing roadshows with the participation of Russian partners are being prepared by ATB and will be presented in the near future. In addition, during the meeting, African colleagues expressed interest in continuing dialogue with the Russian Ministry of Economic Development on the promotion of mutual Russian-African tourism.

Russia is interested in developing tourism with African countries. The strategic format of cooperation is fixed in the Action Plan of the Russia–Africa Partnership Forum for 2023–2026. In particular, the focus of the work is aimed at increasing cooperation and business contacts in the tourism sector; strengthening institutional links, including with continental and regional tourism industry structures; introducing best practices in the area of tourist safety and access to medical and related tourism services in Russia and Africa; encouraging business participation in tourism development activities such as tourism fairs, exhibitions and festivals; and supporting national tourism development projects.

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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