Postgraduate student of Penza State University, Chairman of the International Students Association of the Penza Region Adel Ali Omar Maqbol presented Penza State University at the Russia-Africa Summit, which took place in St. Petersburg from 27 to 28 July 2023. The summit brought together 49 delegations from 54 states of the African continent, which arrived in the city on the Neva River. The motto of the summit is “For Peace, Security and Development”.

The ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre in St. Petersburg hosted a plenary session involving the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, leaders of African states, representatives of public authorities, business and diplomatic communities, as well as representatives of international, research, education and public organisations.

After the plenary session, the activity continued in the sessions. Adel Maqbol took part in the session of the youth programme “Initiators of Change: Youth Projects and Long-Term Cooperation”. During the event, the representative of PSU met with the organising committee for arranging the youth forum, which will be held in March 2024 in the Russian Federation. The participants exchanged views and agreed to inform international students studying in the Penza Region.

“This is my second forum of such scale in Russia. The first one is the World Youth Festival in Sochi in 2017. I am fortunate to participate in the second Russia-Africa Summit. The forum is organised at the highest level like everything else in Russia. There were a lot of exciting venues and sessions. However, I was more interested in those related to the development of education in our states, because Penza State University enrols about 2,500 international students from 47 states, including more than 500 from 16 African states, mostly from Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Nigeria, Mali, Zambia, Congo and Angola,” shared Adel Maqbol.

Moreover, PSU postgraduate student managed to ask a question to the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova during the media platform “Russia-Africa: Overcoming Stereotypes. Role of Media in Creating a Positive Image”.

“I would like to emphasize that the discussed initiatives are practically oriented, they are of great importance for all states. I do believe that with regard to covering the activities of the West in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Iraq, it would be necessary to present true facts and their negative consequences:, namely collapse of states, demographic and economic catastrophes on the African continent,” highlighted by Adel Maqbol.

For reference: The Russia-Africa Summit is a high-level negotiation platform involving the representatives of the delegations of the African states and the Russian Federation. The key speaker was the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. The summit was held in St. Petersburg on 27-28 July 2023. The focus was made on the military conflict in Ukraine and food security in Africa. The topics for discussion also included the grain deal, peaceful atomic energy cooperation and education collaboration.