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Education, medicine, science: how Russia's regions interact with Africa

Russia and Africa have a long-standing partnership. The African region remains a priority for Russian foreign policy. The rapidly developing economy is a favourable environment for successful multifaceted cooperation in a wide range of areas. Among the areas of active cooperation are agriculture, automobile manufacturing, personnel training, oil extraction, medicine, metallurgy, chemical, veterinary and food industries, and others. Cooperation takes place both at the federal and regional levels. Most regions of the Russian Federation have a history of cooperation with Africa. There have been visits from representatives of African diplomatic missions to Russian regions, as well as reciprocal business visits from Russian regional officials and business representatives to countries on the African continent. In particular, Krasnodar Territory is a partner of the South African Republic in trade, tourism and culture, as well as winemaking. St Petersburg cooperates in education with the Republic of Angola, and in the environmental sector with the Republic of Uganda. Work is underway between Nizhny Novgorod Region and Morocco in the automotive sector. Moscow and Tunisia, the Republic of Dagestan and Mauritania cooperate in the field of medicine.

“Over 40 regions in Russia have close partnerships with African countries. Russia is a reliable partner and, as a major food producer and exporter, is ready to help and support its partners, especially in such important areas as the supply of agricultural products and fertilizers,” said Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador-at-Large, Head of the Secretariat of the Russia–Africa Forum.

The 2nd Russia–Africa Summit and Economic Forum will be one of the biggest international events of 2023. This year, it will be held in St. Petersburg at the end of July. The Russia–Africa events are aimed at developing and strengthening the existing partnership, as well as creating new projects and directions in political, economic, and humanitarian cooperation between the countries.

For more information, go to the official website of the Summit and Forum: summitafrica.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