The Second Russia-Africa Summit took place on July 27-28, 2023, in St. Petersburg. Delegations from the majority of African countries, as well as leaders of key African integration structures, participated in it. To be more precise, out of 48 official delegations, the delegations of 27 countries were headed by first or second persons, 17 countries were represented by ministers, mainly foreign ministers, 4 countries, including Mauritius, took part at the level of ambassadors. Such an impressive presence took place despite unprecedented pressure from Washington, the UK and the European Union, which, using the methods of “carrot and stick”, tried to force Africans to refrain from coming to Russia. Nevertheless, such a policy of intimidation did not work – our African partners showed political will, demonstrated their independence and real interest in developing historically friendly relations with Russia.
The Summit also featured Economic and Humanitarian Forum that was attended by around 1000 business representatives from foreign States and over 2000 from Russia. The event included 59 panel sessions with the participation of 457 Russian and African speakers covering four main areas: “The New Global Economy,” “Cooperation in Science and Technology,” “The Humanitarian and Social Sphere: Working Together for a New Quality of Life,” and “Integrated Security and Sovereign Development.”
President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech at the Plenary Session of the Economic and Humanitarian Forum, actively participated in the Russia-Africa Summit’s plenary sessions and issued a joint statement following the outcomes of the Summit with the current Chairperson of the African Union and President of the Comoros Azali Assoumani for the representatives of mass media. Furthermore, President Putin held separate talks with all 17 African leaders arrived to St. Petersburg, hosted a working breakfast with leaders of African regional organizations, and met with heads of delegations to discuss the Ukrainian issue. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a working breakfast with colleagues from 31 African countries who participated in the events in St. Petersburg.
Following the work, the participants adopted a solid package of joint documents and, first of all, the St. Petersburg Declaration.
It formalizes strategic areas for the development of Russia’s cooperation with African countries in long-term perspective. All our states confirmed their commitment to the formation of a fair and democratic multipolar world order based on the universally recognised principles of international law and the UN Charter. They expressed their joint resolve to counter neocolonialism, the practice of using illegitimate sanctions and attempts to undermine traditional moral values.The Sochi agreement has been confirmed – to hold Russia-Africa summits every three years.
A dialogue partnership mechanism will operate in between Russia-Africa summits. Foreign ministries of Russia and African countries and the heads of the African Union will continue their regular political consultations. We are also planning to establish a new permanent Russia-Africa mechanism for coordinating our positions on security issues, including such urgent problems as countering terrorism and extremism, ensuring food security, information technology, preventing the deployment of arms in space and climate change.
Characteristically, our African friends expressed many constructive ideas and useful practical considerations during the meetings. The Russian side certainly considered them.Separate declarations on many areas of Russia-Africa cooperation, in which we detailed our coordinated approaches and guidelines for further joint actions were also adopted.
The adopted large-scale Action Plan until 2026 contains specific goals on invigorating the Russia-Africa economic and humanitarian partnership and implementing decisions of the Petersburg summit as a whole.The both sides are planning to build up the trade in quality and quantity and improve its pattern. They are also going to gradually switch to national currencies, including the ruble, in making financial payments on commercial deals. We will be removing trade barriers by aligning integration processes in the Eurasian Economic Union and the African Union and its free trade area.
We intend to increase exports to Africa of Russian industrial products that have earned a good reputation on the continent, including machinery, automobiles, equipment, chemicals and fertilisers.
Our country will continue supplying our African friends with cereal crops both contractually and free of charge, help them develop their power industry to meet the growing needs of the African economies in hydrocarbon fuel and electricity generating capacities. Importantly, it refers not only to traditional energy sources but also to Rosatom’s innovations.
The Action Plan, along with several other inter-departmental and commercial documents signed on the sidelines of this summit, also provide for expanding industrial cooperation and carrying out joint information and communications projects. In particular, our companies are ready to transfer applied technology to be used in public administration, in the banking and other sectors of the economy to our African friends.
An understanding has been reached at the summit on the importance of more energetic efforts to promote cultural, academic, educational, sports, tourism, youth and other humanitarian exchanges. Russia is also offering a lot to its African friends and colleagues in this area.
Cooperation will continue in education and personnel training, and the number of African students receiving education in Russia will be increased, including government-funded students. Branches of Russia’s leading universities, as well as secondary schools, including those with several subjects taught in Russian, will be opened in African countries through joint efforts. Relevant initiatives were examined in detail at the meetings that took place.
Of course, we also plan to assist our African partners in strengthening their national healthcare systems and enhancing their reliability, technological level, potential for fast response and resilience in coping with epidemics. For this purpose, an ambitious programme will be launched to assist African countries in combatting infections through 2026, for a total amount of 1.2 billion rubles.
In his concluding remarks on the outcomes of the Summit, the current Chairperson of the African Union and the President of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani expressed gratitude to President Putin on behalf of all participants for the warm reception. He particularly highlighted Russia’s readiness to continue supplying grain and food to Africa on both non-repayable and commercial bases after the cessation of the “grain deal”. Mr. Azali Assoumani highly praised President Putin’s position regarding the search for a solution to the Ukrainian crisis, including through the mediation of African countries. He stated that the Second Summit was a great success, confirming the intentions of both sides to further expand mutually beneficial cooperation. “If Russia wins, Africa wins with it, too,” he stressed.
Konstantin Klimovskiy
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Mauritius
