Africa-Press – Rwanda. With leaders of most African countries expected to attend the second Russia-Africa Summit, can it bring about a “new level of mutually beneficial partnership” between Russia and the continent?
The second Russia-Africa Summit will take place in St Petersburg’s Expo Forum from 27-28 July 2023, with leaders from the majority of African countries expected to attend. The Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum due to take place alongside it will provide a platform for business meetings.
The Summit had originally been scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa in October 2022, but was postponed by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin last July, most likely due to complications emerging from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The rescheduled summit was due to last four days, but on 21 June Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced that it will be limited to two due to “fine-tuning” of the programme.
What is the Russia-Africa Summit?
The organisers, Roscongress, describe the Summit as the “highest-level and largest-scale event in Russia-Africa relations” with the aim of bringing about a “new level of mutually beneficial partnership” between Russia and the continent.
“The goal of the event is to promote efforts to strengthen comprehensive and equal cooperation between Russia and African nations across all areas of society including politics, security, economic relations, science and technology, and the cultural and humanitarian spheres,” say the organisers.
The event follows in the footsteps of other “Africa +1” summits such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Japan’s TICAD and the US-Africa Leaders Summit.
The first Russia-Africa Summit took place on 23–24 October in Sochi, a resort on Russia’s Black Sea coast. Held under the motto “For Peace, Security and Development”, it was co-hosted by President Vladimir Putin and President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi of Egypt.
Forty-five African heads of state and two vice-presidents were in attendance, along with 109 ministers and the heads of the African Union (AU) Commission, the African Export–Import Bank and a number of regional economic communities.
Addressing the Summit, Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the AU Commission highlighted the principles of the Africa-Russia strategic partnership and its potential for cooperation in agriculture, natural resource development, industry, trade, infrastructure and energy, as well as in the areas of military, peace and political cooperation.
A final declaration was adopted envisaging the holding of future summits every three years.
What is the Economic and Humanitarian Forum?
The first Russia-Africa Summit was accompanied by a Russia-Africa Economic Forum, at the end of which 92 contracts and memoranda of understanding with a publicly disclosed value of 1.004 trillion roubles ($12.5bn) were signed (the value of some agreements were considered to be trade secrets).
Some 569 meetings took place at the Forum, which was attended by more than 6,000 participants, including 1,100 representatives of international business, around 1,400 representatives of Russian business, over 1,900 members of official foreign delegations and over 300 Russian delegation members.
It was decided to expand the 2023 edition of the Forum to include a humanitarian element. It will also include a large-scale exhibition and a platform for holding business meetings.
Africa and the Ukraine conflict
Many African countries have taken a neutral stance over the conflict in Ukraine. In a UN vote on 22 March 2022, just over half of African members (28) voted in favour of a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion, while 17 voted to abstain, eight did not cast a vote and one (Eritrea) voted against.
Russia and Ukraine are both major exporters of fuel and grain and Africa has been hit hard by the increases in the prices of these commodities as well as fuel price inflation due to the war.
On June 16-17 a delegation of African leaders including President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, President Macky Sall of Senegal and President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia visited Kyiv and St Petersburg on a peace-seeking mission.
“This war has to have an end… It must be settled through negotiations and through diplomatic means,” said President Ramaphosa in St Petersburg on 17 June. “This war is having a negative impact on the African continent and indeed on many other countries around the world.”
According to the BBC President Ramaphosa described the trip as a “historic event” but it failed to make any progress in bringing about a negotiated settlement to the war.
South Africa’s neutral stance has been questioned in recent months, with the US ambassador accusing Pretoria of sending armaments to Russia in a move that could endanger the country’s access to trade with the US under the latter’s Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
Who will attend?
In an interview with the Russian newspaper Argumenty I Fakty on 4 April, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, accused the US and its allies of trying to “torpedo” the Summit and dissuade African countries from taking part. However, the organisers remain confident that most African heads of state will attend.
“We certainly expect the participation of most African states in the summit,” Russia’s ambassador at large, Oleg Ozerov, told the international forum “Russia-Africa: Cooperation as a Path to Sustainable Development” in March.
In an interview with Russian news agency TASS on 25 March, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni confirmed his attendance.
“I will definitely come to St Petersburg in July,” he told the agency. “We had a very good relationship with the Soviet Union, and now we have a very good relationship with Russia.”
source:african.business
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