🗓 On November 9-10, Sochi hosted the First Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum at Sirius University.

Instituted by a decision of the Second Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg in July 2023, this new dialogue format is called on to become a certain coordinating mechanism for implementing objectives set by the heads of state and government.

Along with heads of foreign ministries and executive structures of integration associations, the event brought together sectoral ministers as well as representatives of parliamentary, public, academic and business circles of Russia and African countries, with over 1,500 people attended the event.

🌐 Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov chaired a plenary session, the conference’s high-priority event that involved 54 heads of official delegations from African states and regional integration associations. At the beginning of the plenary session, they read out greetings from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Chair of the African Union – President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani.

The Ministers coordinated their positions on key issues of the international agenda as well as the Russian-African agenda, prioritising the implementation of the Action Plan of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum for 2023-2026. Also, they specified and coordinated long-term guidelines for expanding mutual collaboration still further.

📄 Four joint statements formalised common approaches towards addressing global problems and expanding cooperation with a focus on quality preparations for the Third Russia-Africa Summit:

👉 political statement,
👉 on international information security,
👉 on counter-terrorism measures,
👉 on peaceful use of outer space.

The conference’s packed business programme, including 20 panel sessions and specialised events, provided an additional impetus for diverse mutually beneficial cooperation. Experts and high-ranking guests discussed various high-priority issues in great detail, including food security and collaboration in the agro-industrial sector, training specialists for the real economy, geological prospecting, digitalisation, and cooperation in education, healthcare and youth policy. Representatives of the Eurasian Economic Commission and various African associations discussed mutual integration issues.

Elaborating on the provisions of the Declaration of the Second Russia-Africa Summit, the sides held specialised meetings on international information security, counter-terrorism efforts, and the prevention of an arms race in outer space. Representatives of Russian and African media outlets took part in an event on measures to combat the manifestations of neo-colonialism. 

🤝 Sergey Lavrov met separately with a majority of African delegations on the sidelines of the conference.

✍️  The Officials signed an extensive package of memorandums and agreements between Russia and a number of African states.

#RussiaAfrica

Embassy comment

We took note of the latest article published today in the Straits Times by its international affairs correspondent Jonathan Eyal entitled “How Trump is already shaping Ukraine’s future – and it is not looking good”.

We will not compete with the author in the art of guessing about the consequences of a Trump administration coming to power in the USA and leave it to his conscience...

However, we cannot remain silent about the author’s assessments of Russia’s foreign policy, including in relation to the Ukrainian crisis. We regret to note that Mr Eyal’s knowledge in this area is approaching zero. Hence, we conclude, are the accusations against Russia of aggression, imaginary thirst for territorial acquisitions and desire to trample on established norms and destroy the global world order.

For those who would like to delve into the topic in more detail and understand Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, we recommend reading excerpts from the plenary session of the 21st annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club dated November 7, 2024 (available at http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/75521). Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin took part in it and set basic principles that should form the foundation for international relations in a new era. Among them are: 1 – openness to cooperation; 2 – recognition of world’s diversity as a prerequisite for its sustainability; 3 – maintaining maximum representativeness in the global process; 4 – understanding the indivisibility of security, i.e. the security of one cannot be ensured at the expense of the security of others; 5 – justice for all, since inequality is the scourge of the modern world; and finally – any sustainable international order can only be based on the principle of sovereign equality.
Now, please, compare our principles with the content of Mr Eyal’s article and think about the extent to which it reflects the real pillars of Russia's foreign policy activities.

It is difficult to say what is more in Mr Eyal’s propaganda – ignorance or dishonesty – but both are worth condemning.

🇷🇺🇸🇦📞 President of Russia Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

The Parties expressed satisfaction with the current level of the friendly and mutually beneficial ties between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and reaffirmed their commitment to continue the consistent expansion of political, trade, economic and humanitarian links.

They stressed the importance of continuing close coordination within OPEC Plus and stated the effectiveness and timeliness of the steps being taken in this format to ensure balance on the global energy market.

The President and the Prime Minister discussed the complicated situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and noted that the principled approaches of Russia and Saudi Arabia with regard to the Middle East settlement are essentially identical.

The Parties also shared their opinions on the successful #BRICS summit in Kazan and agreed to maintain contact.

#RussiaSaudiArabia

🔷On November 4-6, 2024, Moscow hosted the International Symposium 'Creating the Future', which is the first event held at the Russia National Center. The symposium was attended by over 6,000 participants from 101 countries.
The event brought together representatives from business, the scientific and engineering communities, futurists, artists, and creative industry professionals. Among the participants were delegates from BRICS, SCO, and CIS countries, who took part in more than 80 activities focused on exploring and designing the future.
Official web-page of the event: https://future.russia.ru/en

📄 On 11 November the UN General Assembly Third Committee approved by a large majority the resolution "Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance".

The document, co-authored by Russia, condemns trends that are cause for concern in many countries around the world, including in the United Kingdom.

Among them are the rise of skinhead groups, racist and xenophobic violence, antisemitism, Holocaust denial and Islamophobia. The importance of commemorating victims of slavery and slave trade is also acknowledged.