Greater Middle East (bbabo.net), - At the Russian Foreign Ministry, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Mikhail Bogdanov held a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of African states accredited in Moscow on the preparation and holding the second Russia-Africa Summit (St. Petersburg, July 2023), as well as the second Russia-Africa International Parliamentary Conference (Moscow, March 2023). This is reported by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Alexander Babakov and Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky made presentations on the concept of the second Russia-Africa International Parliamentary Conference. It was noted that the parliamentary event is regarded as an important stage in the preparation of the Russian-African summit.

Representatives of the leadership of the Roscongress Foundation, the Russian Ministry of Industry and the Department of State Protocol of the Russian Foreign Ministry took part in the discussion of the entire range of issues related to the organization of the second Russia-Africa summit. The African diplomatic corps got acquainted with the architecture of the program of upcoming events, as well as with the organizational and protocol aspects of the stay in St. Petersburg of the heads of state and government of the countries of the African continent and the leaders of leading inter-African associations.

The heads of African diplomatic missions expressed a consolidated position in support of the speedy restoration of the name of Patrice Lumumba in the name of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.

As bbabo.net previously reported, on January 30, Ambassador-at-Large, Head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Oleg Ozerov met with Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister for African Integration Ashraf Sweilim as part of his trip to Cairo.

Ozerov emphasized the significant contribution of Egypt, which co-chaired the first such meeting in 2019, to the development of this format for coordination of actions and comprehensive cooperation. The progressive build-up of Russia's economic ties with the African continent, where a significant role in cooperation belongs to Egypt, was noted.

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