Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s video message to the participants in the 3rd international youth forum Russia-Africa: What Next?, Moscow, April 24, 2024

Colleagues, friends,

I am pleased to offer my greetings to the participants and guests of the international youth forum titled Russia-Africa: What Next? I cannot but welcome the tradition of holding this event at my alma mater. Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to MGIMO University’s executive team and specifically to Anatoly Torkunov for organising this forum.

Over the past years, this forum has established itself as one of the key platforms for promoting the youth dimension in our cooperation with African countries. I believe that your mission involves supporting efforts to implement the agreements resulting from last year’s Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg. This meeting at the highest level laid a solid foundation for generating steady momentum in promoting multifaceted ties between Russia and Africa in the near future. The summit’s outcome documents – the Declaration and the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Action Plan 2023–2026 – set forth our converging approaches on these matters.

According to the updated Foreign Policy Concept as approved by President Vladimir Putin on March 31, 2023, one of the unquestionable priorities for us today is to forge lasting strategic partnerships with African countries.

Russia views the African continent as a global centre with its own unique identity in the emerging multipolar global architecture. The fact that our African friends have made great strides in their national development is a source of great satisfaction for us. This is largely attributable to proactive youth engagement in political, economic and humanitarian processes. Russia reaffirms its commitment to helping African countries strengthen their sovereignty and security in all aspects and dimensions.

We will keep up our proactive efforts to promote capacity building in African countries, including by increasing the number of scholarships we award, as well as by opening branches of Russian universities and schools across the continent, and developing a network of open education centres.

Friends,

In his February 29, 2024, Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, President Vladimir Putin referred to the Russia-Africa summits as a “genuine breakthrough.” This sets a high standard for us to follow. There is a lot of work lying ahead of us. In this context, we expect the participants in today’s event to use their creativity and energy, as well as their ability to search for and come up with solutions when addressing the challenges we face.

I am certain that this meeting will bring about tangible results and will serve as an informal networking platform for engaging in insightful discussions and establishing mutually beneficial contacts for the future.

I wish you to have a fruitful exchange of opinions and all the best.