Results of the E-Governance Knowledge Hub’s and Innopraktika’s joint work at the Russia-Africa Forum

On July 28, 2023, the second Russia-Africa summit and the Economic and Humanitarian Forum ended in St. Petersburg.

Center for African Studies

“The E-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program for African officials” was presented at the Innopraktika’s and HSE’s stand. Using a special touch panel, the Forum participants got acquainted with the knowledge-sharing hub (the Roscongress Foundation).

Apart from the HSE University, the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University were presented.

The Center for African Studies (CIA) was supported by its partners: Innopraktika and Rostelecom, in organizing the E-Governance Knowledge Hub’s stand work. Valentin Bianki, leading expert of the CIA, coordinated the preparation work, and the Center's staff and research interns supported the stand’s functioning.

During the forum, information about the E-Governance Knowledge-Sharing Program for African officials was actively distributed. All the information about this training Program is posted on the E-Governance Knowledge Hub and is available for getting acquaintance via the interactive touch panel.

Those who got interested could pick up brochures with information about the Program. Participants could look through the Center’s publications, including the expert-analytical handbook “Africa 2023. Opportunities and Risks”. Its second, supplemented edition was published just in time before the Summit.

Information desk with CIA's publications

© Кирилл Смирнов / Центр изучения Африки

Many participants, especially African, were extremely interested in the information presented at the stand. Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center, conducted an excursion of the E-Governance Knowledge Hub to Kamalidini Souef, Minister of Post, Telecommunications and Digital Economy of the Union of the Comoros, and Peya Mushelenga, Minister of Information and Communications Technology of Namibia. Yevgeny Primakov, Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Olga Petrova, Deputy Minister of Education, Natalia Popova, Deputy General Director of “Innopraktika”, also visited the stand, as well as Russian business representatives, expert community, Ministries’ and state agencies’ officials.

On the second day of the forum, the Center for African Studies met with Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador-at-Large, Head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum. He highly appreciated the Center's work on the margins of the forum.