The Organizing Committee in charge of preparation and holding the Summit and other events in the Russia—Africa format in the Russian Federation in 2019 held its first meeting chaired by Yury Ushakov, Aide to the Russian President, in Moscow on 19 March. As Yury Ushakov noted in his opening statement, business events will be held in Moscow and in Sochi. «The African Export-Import Bank shareholder meeting and the Russian—African business conference will take place on June. Sochi will host the guests and participants of the Russia—Africa Summit and the Business Forum timed to coincide with it on October», Chairman of the Organizing Committee said. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Ministry of Finance, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Administration of Krasnodar Territory, Russian Export Center, the Roscongress Foundation, and others.
The meeting participants discussed issues related to organizational preparations for the Russia—Africa events as well as the participation of the heads of Africa states and representatives of the Russian and international business community, state institutions, and governments. Events in the Russia—Africa format are expected to be attended by roughly 3,000 African businessmen.
Anton Kobyakov, Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, reported on the preparation progress. He emphasized that events of this magnitude, which combine both political and economic interests, will be the first in Russia’s history. «It should be noted that this is an event of unprecedented scale, which has never been held before in the USSR or in Russia. The Summit will be a strategically important step towards creating the most favourable conditions to develop the trade and economic relations and diversify the forms and areas of Russian-African cooperation. Economies of most African countries develop progressively, and Africa will play an increasing role in the system of Russia’s foreign economic relations in the long term, as the region becomes more and more attractive for trade and investment», Anton Kobyakov said.
The meeting participants discussed the main preparation stages of the events’ business programme and the meetings between the African leaders and the Russian business community, thanks to which Russia’s interaction with African countries will receive state and broad public support. As Mikhail Bogdanov, special representative of the Russian President to the Middle East and African countries, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said in his speech, «Africans pin high hopes on the Summit, particularly in terms of securing a course for developing constructive cooperation with Russia in solving global and regional problems, creating a fair and balanced system of international relations, ensuring peace and security, including joint efforts to counter terrorist threat. Moreover, the Summit is an opportunity for them to demonstrate that Moscow represents an alternative to often unequal relations with their former metropoles». Mikhail Bogdanov announced that a sizeable package of agreements in trade, economic and investment spheres and a number of other multilateral documents are planned to be signed at the Summit. The final document of the meeting in Sochi will be the Declaration of the first Russia—Africa Summit, providing for a long-term partnership.
The matters of comprehensive infrastructure preparation and style design for the city of Sochi and the venues of the Summit and the Russia—Africa Business Forum were on the agenda as well. In his address, Krasnodar Territory Governor Veniamin Kondratyev stressed that «Sochi has repeatedly proved its full commitment to hosting major international events. We will do everything in our power to ensure functioning of the entire urban infrastructure and to maintain an atmosphere of hospitality and a high level of service, which Russia has repeatedly shown when hosting guests from all over the world».
The Organizing Committee also paid special attention to the preparations for the summer events in the Russia—Africa format. The Roscongress Foundation together with Russian Export Center, are the key institutions responsible for preparation and holding of the events for the general shareholder meeting of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the business conference. «Afreximbank, being one of the continent’s largest supranational financial institutions, has held the general meeting of shareholders outside of Africa only once in its history. This undoubtedly shows the tremendous interest from the African side to develop mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia, and it will allow us to maximize the potential of these events to establish and strengthen bilateral and multilateral business relations», said Andrey Slepnev, head of the Russian Export Center, in the course of the meeting.
