Russia-Africa Summit To Give Impetus To Development Of Trade, Investment- Egypt's Lawmaker

CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2019) The upcoming Russia-Africa Summit will help improve mutual understanding between politicians and business representatives and will give a new impetus to the development of trade and economic relations between Russia and African nations, Tarek Radwan, the chairman of the African Affairs Committee at the Egyptian Parliament, told Sputnik.

The first-ever Russia-Africa Summit and business forum, co-chaired by the presidents of Russia and Egypt, will be held in Russia's resort city of Sochi from October 23-24. The leaders of all the 54 African nations have been invited to the event, with more than 40 of them having already confirmed their attendance. The event will be chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah Sisi.

"The main objective of the summit is to strengthen the partnership between Russia and African countries to ensure the development of states of the African continent. Russia has been already present in Africa and this meeting will help give new impetus to the development of trade and investment," Radwan said.

According to the official, the participation of heads of state, politicians and business representatives shows that all sides are interested in this cooperation. Radwan noted that African lawmakers participated in the preparations for the upcoming summit

"I participated among the Egyptian parliamentary delegation ... in the meetings of the parliamentary conference and Russia-Africa Forum hosted by Russia in July, the atmosphere and the results were positive in preparation for the next summit in October," he said.

Egypt is the biggest trade and economic partner of Russia on the African continent. The bilateral trade amounted to nearly $8 billion in 2018.