The First Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum began its work on Saturday at the Sirius Federal Territory of Sirius University in Russia's southern city of Sochi.
According to the Roscongress Foundation, which is acting as the event's organizer, the conference, which aims to strengthen comprehensive cooperation between Russia and African nations in all areas—politics, security, economy, as well as scientific, technical, cultural, and humanitarian issues—is being attended by the heads of important agencies, such as:
Ministers of foreign affairs of African states and heads of the executive bodies of African integration organizations;
Representatives of Russian and African business;
Heads of key Russian and African ministries;
Representatives of government agencies, financial institutions, and public and scientific circles;
Leading Russian and foreign experts;
Media representatives.
Roundtables and panel discussions on the most pressing issues on the Russian-African agenda will be held on the sidelines of the conference. A separate thematic area will focus on humanitarian cooperation between Russia and its African partners.
In order to highlight the customs of the Russian and African peoples, the cultural program will feature musical, exhibition, and sightseeing events.
According to the organizers, over 40 ministers of African countries will take part in the ministerial conference. In addition, the event will be attended by the leadership of the African Union Commission.
In total, the program includes 19 panel sessions and thematic events on current issues on the Russian-African agenda.
As part of the forum program, as reported by Roscongress, participants will discuss cooperation in the areas of security, including information, economics and humanitarian cooperation, as well as transfer of competencies, digitalization of public administration, education, training of diplomatic personnel, healthcare and epidemiological well-being.
In addition, the parties will consider the interaction of the countries of the African continent and the Eurasian Economic Union. Furthermore, bilateral consultations are planned to be held at the ministerial conference. Following the event, the participants are expected to sign a joint statement on measures to form a fair and equal system of international information security.
The leaders of media are expected to participate in the session called “Russia-Africa: In the Struggle for Truth,” where they will discuss joint counteraction to Western propaganda and falsifications in the global information space, as well as strengthening the economic and political ties between Russia and Africa, based on the principles of modernization with reliance on their own strengths.
To date, over 1,500 participants have confirmed their participation, including more than 40 ministers of foreign affairs, education and science, digital development and technology, economy, industry, healthcare, and youth policy from Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Mauritania, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, and Ethiopia.
"We have created bilateral intergovernmental commissions on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation with many states of the [African] continent, and the network of Russian embassies and trade missions in Africa is set to expand. We are actively developing additional instruments designed to better structure economic ties and give them greater momentum. I am confident that the first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum will strengthen our agreements and become another historic event in modern history," emphasized Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the Russian President of the Russian Federation and Executive Secretary of the forum's Organizing Committee for the Preparation and Holding of Events in the Russia-Africa Format.