St. Petersburg to host summit – Russia-Africa summit next year

St. Petersburg to host summit dubbed the Russia-Africa summit next year.

At the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit, Russia will aim to build ties with African Nations, in a bid to create pro-Russian relations. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced on her official Telegram channel on Wednesday.

“We are leaving the African continent under a heavy rain and this is a good sign,” she stated. “Thank you, friends, and we are waiting for you in Saint Petersburg next year at the summit.”

St. Petersburg to host summit

The inaugural Russia-Africa summit was hosted by the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi in 2019. The summit was organized between October 22 and 24, 2019 and its slogan read as ‘For Peace, Security and Development.’

Within the framework of the African tour earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visited Egypt, the Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia between July 24 and 27.

The visit to Ethiopia on Wednesday was the final stop in Lavrov’s African tour, after which he will travel to the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Uzbekistani capital of Tashkent.

The crisis in Ukraine took the center stage during Lavrov’s previous negotiations and press conferences in African countries.

No requests from Washington

Moscow has received no requests from Washington for telephone contact between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign ministry told TASS on Wednesday.

“There have been no requests, only media reports. We rely on regular diplomatic practices rather than on megaphone diplomacy,” a ministry spokesman said.

Blinken said earlier that he plans to speak with Lavrov within days to discuss issues of grain export from Ukraine and the possible release of US nationals detained in Russia.

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