Ethiopia hosted a Round table dedicated to the Second Russia – Africa Summit and Economic and Humanitarian Forum

  



The main topic of discussion was trade and economic cooperation and social and humanitarian partnership between Russia and Africa. Participants from 25 countries joined the event. 

On July 12 of this year, Addis Ababa hosted a round table “On the road to the Second Russia – Africa Summit and Economic and Humanitarian Forum” with the participation of representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, AFROCOM, relevant ministries, industry and business associations. During the discussion, the prospects for the development of Russian-African economic and social partnership relations were on the table. 

Speakers included Evgeny Terekhin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Ethiopia; Igor Morozov, Chairman of the Coordinating Committee for Economic Cooperation with African Countries (AFROCOM); Ilya Nesterov, Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation; NJ Ayuk, Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber; Ekaterina Kiseleva, Deputy General Director for Development of Kundalinik; Alexander Makarov, General Director of TraceCORE LLC; Elena Myakotnikova, Director of the “Climate Initiatives and Carbon Regulation” function of SIBUR. In total, participants from 25 African countries joined the event. 

“The Russia–Africa Summit is an event that plays a key role in the development of Russian-African relations. It is thanks to this format of interaction that we will be able to achieve a qualitatively new level of mutually beneficial partnership as soon as possible which is capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century,” Evgeny Terekhin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Ethiopia, pointed out. 

The forthcoming summit will contribute to the strengthening of comprehensive and equal cooperation between Russia and African countries in all its dimensions including politics, security, economy, science, technology, culture and humanitarian practice. During the meeting, some focus was on such fields as agriculture, education, energy resources and digitalization of the economy.  

“The digitalization of Africa attracts special attention of Russians. We live in a digital world and, undoubtedly, the future of civilization lies with the digital economy. Digital transformation has been carried out in all regions of Russia for 20 years. Russia has the world’s best B2B, B2C digital platforms, product and educational service labeling, and Moscow has become the best city in the world in terms of living comfort and digitalization of the services offered. Only Toronto and Singapore are in the top three. We certainly have something to share with our African partners, especially since they are already ready for a new experience: the African Continental Free Trade Area has begun to operate, many countries of the continent, including Ethiopia, are creating science and technology parks and IT clusters,” Igor Morozov, Chairman of the Coordinating Committee for Economic Cooperation with African Countries (AFROCOM), said. 

Andrey Gutorov, Foreign Partnership Advisor to the General Director of JSC UCC Uralchem, said that the Uralchem-Uralkali Group intends to provide about 300 thousand tons of fertilizers to developing countries (predominantly in Africa) absolutely free of charge. This initiative is focused on famine relief and non-aggravation of the global food crisis.