On November 18 at 12:00 noon Moscow time, the Valdai Club will host a presentation of the Valdai Paper “Russia-Africa: Overcoming Challenges”.
Today, Russia is pursuing an active policy of expanding cooperation with African countries. The first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum was held in Sochi on November 9-10. Its participants defined the tasks for the coming years and summed up the first results of the second Russia-Africa summit, which was held in St. Petersburg in 2023. One of the tasks, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, chairman of the plenary session of the forum, is moving away from “dependence on global mechanisms controlled by our Western colleagues”.
Since the first Russia-Africa summit in 2019, the Valdai Club has been engaged in an expert analysis of the main areas of interaction with African states. The new Valdai Paper is devoted to the modern approaches of Russian diplomacy and rich Soviet experience in working on the continent. The author of the Paper considers it symbolic that the leaders of Egypt and Ethiopia came to the BRICS summit in Russia for the first time as participants. Russia for many years supported African countries in their fight against colonialism and in strengthening their national independence.
How successful is Russia’s course to return to Africa? What are the priorities of African states in cooperation with Russia? What hinders the development of trade and the flow of Russian investments to Africa? How has the accession of Egypt and Ethiopia affected the BRICS agenda? The author of the note and the participants of the discussion will try to answer these and other questions.
Speakers:
Vladimir Shubin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Honorary Doctor of the University of the Western Cape (South Africa), Chief Researcher, Institute of African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences (author of the Paper)
Nourhan ElSheikh, Professor of Political Science, Cairo University; Member of the Egyptian Council on International Affairs
Aliou Tounkara, President of the Russian House in Mali
Alexander Balezin, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Chief Researcher at the Central Asia Institute, World History Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Dareskedar Taye, Leading Researcher at the Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia
Moderator:
Oleg Barabanov, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club
Working languages: Russian, English.
Information for the media: In order to get accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our web site. If you have any questions about the event, please call +79269307763
Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VK, Telegram and Dzen.
The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004. It is named after Lake Valdai, which is located close to Veliky Novgorod, where the Club’s first meeting took place.
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