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Vladimir Putin Congratulates African Leaders on Africa Day

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to the heads of state and government of African countries on the occasion of Africa Day.

Among other things, the message touched on the following: “This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity. For decades, this representative international organisation had played a crucial role in the development of multilateral dialogue and cooperation. Its good traditions are currently carried on by the African Union, within which all states on the continent are actively interacting. Thanks to their joint efforts, it was possible to establish mechanisms of collective response to local crises and launch processes of regional integration in various formats. This, undoubtedly, facilitates the social and economic development of Africa, and increases its role in international affairs.”

The Russian president noted how Russia has always attached particular importance to strengthening friendly relations with its African partners and how the first-ever Russia–Africa Summit in 2019 “gave a boost to our ties in many areas”.

Vladimir Putin also expressed confidence that the second Russia–Africa Summit, which is scheduled to be held in July in St. Petersburg, would help outline new tasks that aim to expand constructive cooperation between Russia and its African partners in political, trade and economic, scientific and technical, humanitarian, and other areas.

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