Moscow
hosted a meeting of the working group tasked with organizing the African Export—Import
Bank (Afreximbank) series of events. The Afreximbank Annual Meetings and the
Russia—Africa Economic Conference will be held on 18–22 June in Moscow.
The working
group considered organizational matters such as venue preparations, guest and
participant transport, invitation campaign progress, and opportunities for
holding bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of Afreximbank
events. Particular attention was paid to the plans for the business programme
of the Russia—Africa Economic Conference, which will be held as part of the
Afreximbank Annual Meetings. Alexandra Ogneva, Roscongress Foundation Deputy
CEO, Head of International and Regional Cooperation Directorate, and the
Russian party’s co-organizer of the Afreximbank events, highlighted the
interest expressed by officials, business circles, and the expert community in
helping form the business portion of the programme. «Over 10 ministers of
finance, trade, and industry from Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone,
special representatives from the African Union and the Eurasian Economic
Commission, and heads of international financial institutions have confirmed
their participation. The breadth of the business programme is also due in large
part to active support from the business communities in Russia and the African
continent,» noted Ogneva. The business programme will primarily focus on trade
cooperation, export to international markets, investment, mining resource
exploration and exploitation, healthcare, education, and transport in the
African continent.
Andrey Slepnev, General Director of the Russian Export
Center (REC), stressed the importance of saturating the platform’s events full
of real economic content concerning direct cooperation between Russia and
Africa’s business circles. Slepnev noted that, «Over the course of two days,
one platform will bring together representatives of African governing bodies,
heads of financial organizations, and business executives. It’s very important
that the Russian side uses the event’s potential wisely and presents leaders
directly responsible for making economic and investment decisions with, not
just the achievements of Russian companies, but ready-to-go solutions and ideas
for joint projects.»
In the
interest of convenience, economic conference participants will have access to
the Afreximbank AM 2019 app, which will allow them to directly contact and
arrange meetings with any delegate who has also enabled this feature.
