Association of African Graduates of Russian Universities to Be Created in St Petersburg
The first international Forum of African Graduates of Russian and Soviet Universities has come to an end. The forum was held at HSE University in St Petersburg as part of the second Russia–Africa Summit.
Guests from 25 African countries took part in the event. More than 200 former students of Russian and Soviet universities from Tanzania, Morocco, Egypt, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, and other counties took part, as did representatives of BRICS, the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, Rossotrudnichestvo, and Russian and African universities. The attendees discussed a wide range of issues related to cooperation in education, science, economics, and the humanitarian sphere.
The forum programme spanned three days and included topical sessions on ‘Culture, Peace, and Security,’ ‘Ecology, Business, and Twin Cities’, and ‘Humanitarian Cooperation’.
Among the speakers of the forum were Francois Xavier Tulikunkiko, Chair of the Union of African Diasporas; Pierre Claver Mupendana, President of the Institute for Peace and Development of Africa; Zenebe Tafesse Kinfu, President of the Union of African Diasporas in Russia; and Ellen Peter Otaru-Okoedion, Chair of the Journalists’ Environmental Association of Tanzania.
The forum was opened by Sergey Glazyev, Commissioner for Integration and Macroeconomics within the Eurasian Economic Commission. He remarked: ‘In the new circumstances, Russia and African countries are working together to create a new global architecture of cooperation in economics, education, science, and the humanitarian sphere. And the first forum of African graduates is an important step towards this.’
Anna Tyshetskaya, Director of HSE University in St Petersburg, highlighted that ‘today our countries are faced with similar tasks in the search for answers to new challenges in the technological and economic spheres.’ She added: ‘The forum has brought together people who have an influence on the economic development of their countries. As such, it is symbolic that this conversation about the future is taking place at HSE University in St Petersburg. It is even more symbolic that we are having this international dialogue in the Russian language.’
One outcome of the forum was the signing of a resolution to create an international Association of African Graduates of Russian and Soviet Universities, which includes plans for the all-round development of Russia–Africa relations. The participants of the forum also thanked the administration of HSE University-St Petersburg for hosting the event, and requested that the campus serve as the venue for working meetings of the initiative group.
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