CPE students on the MGIMO conference
On 22-23 October, MGIMO University held the 1-st international forum “Russia-Africa: what next?”. Second-year students of “Comparative politics of Eurasia” programme Mikhail Grechishnikov and Mir-Ali Askerov participated in the conference and shared their experience.
On October 22-23, 2021 on the platform of MGIMO the 1st international forum “Russia-Africa: what next?” took place. The conference was held in partnership with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Federal Agency “Rossotrudnichestvo”, the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, the Roscongress Foundation and the MGIMO African Club.
Among the official representatives, guests and honorary members of the program committee of the forum were:
А. V. Torkunov — Rector of MGIMO;
Е. A. Primakov — Head of “Rossotrudnichestvo” FA, Honorary Chairman of the Forum Program Committee;
В. I. Tkachenko — Director of DAF MFA;
I. O. Abramova — Director, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences;
M.A. Petrova — Executive Director of MGIMO Endowment;
И. N. Morozov — Russian Senator, Chairman of AFROCOM;
О. B. Ozerov — Ambassador-at-Large for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Head of the Russia-Africa Forum Secretariat.
Students, researchers, experts, representatives of state and private structures discussed the current problems of the continent and the prospects of development of Russian-African cooperation. Students of our master's program “Comparative Politics of Eurasia” Mir-Ali Askerov and Mikhail Grechishnikov also actively participated in this forum. They attended the plenary session of the forum and participated in various roundtables on topical issues of bilateral cooperation in the fields of economics, politics, humanitarian projects and international relations. They also took part in the work of project groups, during which initiators of projects from Russia and Africa presented their work, which was supported by interested invited partners and helped establish working contact to continue collaboration.
During this forum, I was able to establish contacts with researchers of African studies from different universities in Russia, as well as to participate in the discussion of Russian policy in the African direction and to touch upon such aspect of Russian-African cooperation as Islamic education and religious educational projects. I hope that my comments were beneficial for the participants of the forum. — Mir-Ali Askerov
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank the organizers of the forum for the opportunity to take part in this event. This platform allows not only us, researchers and experts in various fields of Africa, to share our expertise, but also to gain the knowledge of those who have just begun to get acquainted with the region. Representatives of state and business structures were also able to find contact with research groups to create their own internal expertise and improve the quality of work in the region. — Mikhail Grechishnikov
On a personal note, I can add that such events should be held on an annual basis. The exchange of opinions and knowledge should be held regularly in order to respond to the phenomena emerging in modern Africa in proper time, to quickly analyse the situation and provide recommendations to various executive structures both in the government and in the business community.
By Mir-Ali Askerov