from the ports on the african coast, it would be a good thing and a good start to this joint work to provide a wider coverage of the african continent with direct flights. we consider it very important to participate in the development of the african railway network. these are the urgent tasks that we invite our african friends to work on together. russia is interested in strengthening multifaceted ties with all regional economic integration associations and structures operating on the continent, for example. to establish cooperation between the eurasian economic union, as the largest integration project involving russia and the african continental free trade area, formed within the framework of the african union. i am also ready to share our integration with our african partners. with the integration experience through the union state of russia and belarus, today we

will hold a working lunch with the participation of the heads of state of the governments of the countries that currently head the main regional african organizations and the heads of the executive bodies of these associations have in mind to offer our african partners our developments on such important integration issues as the removal of restrictions within the framework of the single market for the functioning of free trade zones, the implementation of a coordinated agrarian industrial and other sectoral policy, i am sure. what is complex cooperation, both on a bilateral and multilateral basis, will allow qualitatively and quantitatively to increase economic ties with africa. i would also like to draw attention to the fact that bilateral intergovernmental commissions have proved their effectiveness in developing cooperation in the economic and humanitarian spheres. however , today they are available in russia only with every

third country on the continent. in total, there are 18 of them for 54 countries. in this regard, we invite those interested and not yet covered by the state of africa to think about forming such commissions together with us. of course, we are ready for this. it would be useful and we are also ready to expand the network of russian trading companies operating in africa. representatives to increase the staff of economic advisers from tasha on issues of agriculture, education, science and information and communication technologies. dear friends, we will continue to pay the closest attention to strengthening cultural, scientific , educational, sports and youth exchanges between russia and african states. here, our country also has a lot to offer, of course, the traditional area of ​​russian african cooperation has been and remains the training of qualified personnel. just on meeting with the leadership of the union and we talked about

this. today , almost 35,000 students from africa study in russian universities and this number is growing every year. here it is, education for africans at the expense of the federal budget has increased by 2.5 times over 3 years and for the next academic year will amount to more than four uh people. there are plans to open branches of leading russian universities in africa and close cooperation with african educational institutions. it is getting better and within the framework of the russian african network university i will mention that on the eve of our forum on july 26 in st. petersburg at the st. petersburg mining university signed an agreement on the creation of a russian-african consortium of technical universities for the subsoil of africa , which provides for the joint training of specialists for the mineral resource

complex. it seems to me that this is a very important and interesting area of ​​cooperation. we will continue to help our african friends in the development of not only higher, but also general and secondary vocational education , to train teachers, mentors and technical personnel for schools and colleges. establish joint schools for which adapted methodological materials are already being developed based on a synthesis of russian and african national educational programs. we propose to study the possibilities of creating teaching subjects in russian in afrikaans, i am sure that the implementation of such projects for the study of the russian language, the introduction of high educational standards in our country will lay a better foundation for further mutually beneficial equal cooperation. next year should start the activities of the international organization

russian language, which will be open for accession by all countries where they love and want to use the russian language, where they love and are interested in russian culture, we invite african partners to join this work in 28 african countries, a project has been launched to create open education centers for the training of teachers and educators of preschool children primary and secondary schools for this purpose. we plan to significantly increase the enrollment of african students. russian pedagogical universities currently studying in russia more than 10,000 africans are being trained in medical specialty healthcare and epidemic control are an important area of ​​russian african cooperation . let me remind you that russia was one of the first to come to the aid of african countries during the coronavirus pandemic. we sent

millions of russian tests to african countries free of charge, together with south africa, we conducted scientific research on new strains of a dangerous virus. in recent months alone , two russian mobile laboratories were handed over to partners from the democratic republic of the congo and continued equipping the russian guinean center for the study of infection in the city of kindi, where more than 20 diagnostic preparations have been developed. about 1,500 local specialists have been trained in russian methods of infection prevention and control. a joint center for the study of infection has also been created in burundi. a large-scale russian program of assistance to africa in the fight against infections has been prepared until 2026, for which one and two tenths of a billion rubles have been allocated; within its framework, the countries of the continent will be supplied with 10 mobile

laboratories. trained hundreds of professionals conducted joint research. every year there are more youth exchanges between russia and africa . representatives of african countries annually participate in a program of short-term study trips to our country for young representatives of political public scientific business circles as part of the program. the new generation is maintained and ties with those africans who were educated in russia and now it was very pleasant to talk with colleagues. previous meetings, who are fluent in russian, i would like to take this opportunity to invite young african friends to come to our country in sochi in march 24 at the world festival of madeji. this is a large-scale forum that will bring together young people from all over the world. over 25,000 representatives

from over 10,080 countries are expected to attend. we attach great importance to interaction in the field of physical culture and sports, which is ready to further develop ties with the sports federations of african countries, we propose to intensify interaction through sports universities in russia and african countries to implement university exchanges volunteer programs to conduct joint matches in different sports between educational institutions and universities. we invite athletes from africa to take part in the international university sports festival in august in the russian city of yekaterinburg and in the urals , as well as in the games of the future, which will be held in february march 24 in kazan and represent a unique combination of dynamic sports disciplines by the most popular video games and technological

devices, the new competition format is designed to combine classic and innovative. sports the russian side is set to develop cooperation with african countries on the african continent in the field of mass communications, including in the areas of content exchange organization of educational courses for workers and students of mass media holding experimental events work is already underway to open representative offices of the leading russian media in africa news agency tass russia today tv channel rt vgtrk. rossiyskaya gazeta proposes to conduct business towards the creation of a common information space in russia and africa, within which the russian african audience will be broadcast objective, unbiased information about events taking place in the world and in conclusion. i would like

to emphasize once again that russia is sincerely interested in further global development and deepening trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation with all african countries, i am sure that the work of the current forum and the thematic meetings of round tables of negotiations held within its framework, will certainly be useful and will contribute to the achievement of all our common goals. thank you very much for your patience and attention. thank you very much, mr. president, your speech clearly defined the prospects for the essence and main directions of russian-african cooperation in the context of the transformation of the world order. i

think that the participants of our forum received answers to the most pressing questions that concern both russia and africa today. cooperation between equal and sovereign states is always a two-way road, and it is always extremely important for us russians to know the opinion of our african partners, as well as the situation in the world and the prospects for our cooperation. i have the honor, uh, to give the floor to the president of the african union, uh, the president of the union of the comoros. eh, his excellency mr. father

, progress of the federation dear mr. putin dear heads of state dear representatives of the russian authorities federations greetings of the african union to the second russian-african summit in st. petersburg i am very pleased today to have the opportunity, on behalf of our organization

, to speak on some important topics for africa, as well as to talk about our partnership with russia, an active world power that is actively present on our continent let me first of the union russian authorities. a warm welcome that we received from the wonderful city of st. petersburg for organizing this event. we in the venice of the north beautiful city was its creator give this city. peter the great, today

the second summit, russia africa, is being held here, and today we are talking about our common history, gentlemen. the multipolar world of the 21st century cannot close on itself. that is why africa wants to establish a fair and mutually beneficial partnership with the entire economic world . africa in particular, where by the end of the century will be home to three point eight million, billions of people wants to establish close cooperation with more.

we look forward to close cooperation it is obvious that russia occupies a special place cooperation with russia are ready to work on all major topics today's forum takes place for africa

in july 2023, the african free trade area was established. we are also developing the african agenda for the period up to 2063. all these projects should result in new opportunities.

to the problems of our infrastructure of industrialization processes, as well as to the energy problems of our continent - these are the main points of the main directions in which we can actively cooperate with russia. it is very important today for the empire to orient our mutual approaches, to build a mutually beneficial partnership to diversify our economy, especially since we are now mainly exporting a period of skilled jobs. this is very

important for our youth, so it is so important to strengthen. now the state state has a private partnership in the russian-african context, and this will allow a variety of participants in the process to join it, of course, the african union in this sense remains the most important tool for developing economic diversification, especially in the most promising sectors such as agriculture, health, education, energy, and others, while african businesses need support to increase productivity and new markets we

have 80 percent of our gdp in the raw materials agricultural sector, which can develop partnerships between our new projects and the public sector in our countries will participate on an equal footing. which will create a new basis for our cooperation, today the digital revolution is taking place on our continent and this will allow

us to participate in the new stage of the industrial revolution in the best way to solve our economic social problems to quickly join this new industrial revolution in the digital revolution is very important for us and in this regard it is very important to pay attention to education for the training of specialists, especially our youth, which should be included in public sector and within financial institutions. board to strengthen our cooperation for the benefit of our peoples. in this regard, allow me to dwell on the actual problem of supply

grain - this is the most important vital, important problem for us. the suspension of the grain deal may have some impact on our cooperation. russia is working closely with us and is doing a lot to fight.

tribune this opportunity to reaffirm the importance for us of this topic. we talked about this in 2019, the ukrainian crisis is having an important serious impact on the situation, so resolving this crisis will save a large number of lives of people who depend on food supplies our continental impact, so we we are making a big request.

russian grain to our countries we are ready to cooperate with russia in all sectors and in all areas, whatever we consider rash, and we are doing everything possible to ensure that peace and security exist on our continent, of course. a variety of events are taking place today. you know what happened in nigeria the other day . we demand the immediate release of the president of the neger republic. and his family today

it is necessary to fight for a sustainable peace between russia and ukraine and yes, exactly the message with which is represented today by the african union. i personally, it was we who went to see the president. people's neighbors and i am grateful that

you will hear our message of our appeal. today we are fighting for a multilateral multipolar world africans are especially well aware that today the international system must be reformed, in particular the un system. in particular , among the permanent members of the security

, we will continue to work on this. i would like applause to sound in this hall now and i hope that the great deed africa's advancement on the international stage will be supported by the russian federation such an expansion of the african presence in the top twenty today seems very important . ladies and gentlemen. today 's summit provides us with an opportunity to better understand what we need to do together to expand investments for the widest

use and development of our potential, so that today's forum will formulate operational recommendations for development.

thank you very much, mr. president, your speech showed that the point of view of russia and africa, both in terms of the situation in the world and in terms of the new opportunities that are opening up. our relations are very close, but on some points. they coincide, i want to say that the difference is the second forum. russia africa from lies in the fact that it is not only economic, but its humanitarian , and this means that both russia and africa are concerned not only with material, but also with spiritual values, and i give the floor to his holiness patriarch kirill of moscow and all russia

your excellency, dear vladimir vasilievich vladimir vladimirovich president of the russian federation, your excellency dear mr. sumani, president of the union of the comoros, enough of my head and high representatives of the country of africa welcomes you all cordially and thank you for the invitation to speak at such a representative meeting dedicated to the development of cooperation between russia and the states of the african continent life, having an important political economic. i would also say spiritual and cultural significance, despite the geographical remoteness , the people of our countries have good relations , the secret of such friendship is quite simply russia

has never considered the african continent as a space for profit or what? for colonization, i never spoke to the peoples of africa in an arrogant tone from a position of superiority and strength in difficult historical moments. we have always tried to show solidarity and mutual assistance in the difficult and responsible time of the struggle for independence and for definitions of african countries russia has tried to actively support these peoples, and then worked with them to create a peaceful life on the development of many infrastructure projects. remarkable that this collaboration continues today? the good feelings that bind us are time-tested and their solid foundation is, among other things, a common understanding of the fundamental foundations of human life and a deep commitment to the enduring moral values ​​of faiths.