On 27th July 2023, the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum held a plenary session in St. Petersburg within the framework of the Second Russia–Africa Summit. The forum’s principal topic is Technologies and Security in the Name of Sovereign Development for the Benefit of Humankind.
The session presidium included Mr Azali Assoumani, President of the Union of Comoros and Chairperson of the African Union; His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia; Mr Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export-Import Bank; and Ms Dilma Rousseff, President of the New Development Bank.
Acting as moderator was Ms Irina Abramova, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for African Studies.
Mr Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, greeted the participants in the meeting. In his address, he dwelt on the current relations between Russia and African countries and prospects of their further development in political, economic and humanitarian spheres.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia delivered an address in which he focused on some topical issues of Russia-Africa relations and on the mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in Africa.
Among those who attended the plenary session were Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga; Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; and Metropolitan Leonid of Klin, Patriarchal Exarch of Africa.
Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
