Africa’s current issues and a new stage of cooperation with Russia

Abstract

On May 24-26, 2021, the 15th International African Studies Conference «Destinies of Africa in the Modern World» was held, organized by the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences together with the Roscongress Foundation and with the support of the Russian News Agency TASS. The event was held both in a face-to-face and distant format. The plenary session (opening of the conference) was held in the TASS press center. It was attended by leading Russian scholars in the field of African studies, representatives of the authorities of the Russian Federation and the African Union, and African ambassadors to Russia. During the event the participants discussed such issues as the current state of cooperation between Russia and African countries, the interaction of state institutions, business, and the academic community of the Russian Federation, priority areas for the development of partnership, including in the context of preparations for the second Russia-Africa Summit, which is scheduled to be held in 2022, as well as the role and significance of the conference itself. Russia's cooperation with African countries is complex and includes both trade and economic and humanitarian components. Within the frames of 48 sections, which were attended by more than 500 participants from 5 continents, the participants considered in detail within the entire spectrum of socio-humanitarian knowledge the current problems of Africa and the prospects for the development of Africa, the prospects of Russia-Africa cooperation. The recommendations following the results of the plenary session and sections of the conference can be used in developing the approaches to cooperation with African countries, and the very fact of holding such a large-scale event allows to speak of Russia as one of the world centers of African studies.