Presentation of the expert-analytical handbook Africa 2025: Opportunities and Risks at the fifth anniversary of the HSE Centre for African Studies

On September 10, 2025, the HSE Centre for African Studies celebrated its fifth anniversary. During the ceremony at the HSE's Cultural Centre, the expert and analytical handbook Africa 2025: Opportunities and Risks was presented by the team of authors.

The event was attended by representatives of government agencies of the Russian Federation (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance, Rossotrudnichestvo, the Russian President's Administration and the Russian Government), representatives of partner companies of the Center for African Studies from various fields: banking, energy, digital sphere, as well as the management and staff of the HSE departments.

The guests got acquainted with the information stands illustrating the main directions of the Center's activity. For example, one of them provided information on the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program, implemented with the support of "Innopraktika" company. Other stands were dedicated to the Center's expert-analytical publication Africa 2025: Prospects and Challenges, the Center's foreign partners, its cooperation agreements, as well as its educational "Africa" track.

During her opening speech, HSE Vice Rector Tatyana Vasilyeva congratulated the Center for African Studies on its anniversary, describing it as “a platform where global ideas of Russian-African cooperation are born and being implemented.”

“The Center has new projects, new horizons, and new achievements ahead of it. Africa is the continent of the future, and it is very important for Russia to be there in the current period of its development. Already today, the Center for African Studies forms not only an expert message, which becomes the basis for Russia's policy, but also the practice of international cooperation,” said the Vice Rector.

The event continued with an award ceremony for graduates of the educational "Africa" track, which has been implemented at the HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs since 2024 under the guide of the Center for African Studies. More than 20 students have already participated in the track, including internships in international organizations (the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Energy Chamber). Anastasia Likhacheva, Dean of the HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, presented diplomas to the graduates.

"Considering the number of African countries and the number of Russian-African projects and challenges in this area, I am sure that each of those who came to the educational "Africa" track will succeed in their careers. There are so many opportunities in this area," Anastasia Likhacheva emphasized.

The main part of the event was the presentation of the expert-analytical publication in Russian Africa 2025: Opportunities and Risks. Vsevolod Sviridov, Deputy Director of the HSE Center for African Studies and editor of the handbook, moderated the discussion. He expressed the hope that "the new edition, just like the Green Book Africa 2023, will find its way into every cabinet where the fate of Russian–African relations is being decided, and where there are people simply interested in Africa."

The book, edited by Andrey Maslov and Vsevolod Sviridov, was prepared by a team of experts and researchers at the Center for African Studies with the support of "Innopraktika" company. It offers a Russian perspective on the processes taking place in Africa. The focus is made on a wide range of topics: macroeconomics, external and internal debt, food sovereignty, energy and green transition opportunities, digitalization, education, creative economy and the role of African business. Special attention is paid to the topic of sovereignty — financial, food, energy, digital, cultural and educational. Many of the book's ideas were the result of discussions and disputes, as well as the result of “information gaps.”

The full text is available on the Centre's website in the special "Africa 2025: Opportunities and Risks" section in Russian, as well as via the link.

“We have managed to impose a polemic on West African studies and our own agenda in the discussion,” said Andrey Maslov, director of the Center for African Studies and editor of the handbook. He also spoke about the stages of writing and the structure of the handbook. “Each of the 11 chapters of the publication is an independent large study, prepared using new data.”

The publication denies common stereotypes about Africa. For example, the genocide in Rwanda was usually explained by overpopulation and lack of resources.

“We set a task and explained that the relation between demography and hunger is rather the opposite: the larger the population, the easier it is to solve infrastructural and logistical problems, and new markets are being formed,” said Andrey Maslov.

Nikita Gusakov, CEO of EXIAR, congratulated the staff of the Center with the publication of a new handbook, noting its importance in demonstrating Russia's interest in cooperation with Africa.

“By its activities, the Center helps us a lot from the point of macroanalytics and industry understanding. The Center is willing to share its experience and expertise with us. This allows us and the Russian business as a whole to look at Africa more and more closely, increasing the total trade turnover,” he stressed.

Fyodor Lukyanov, HSE Research Professor at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, also mentioned the intensification of Russian-African cooperation. However, according to him, Russia is gradually discovering “completely different horizons.” But Africa is still “burdened with many stereotypes. Getting to know representatives of the African expert community allows us to expand our horizons and get rid of some of them.”

Anastasia Pavlenko, Deputy Executive Director and Director for Strategic Partnerships at "Innopraktika" company, focused on promoting Russian high–tech companies in foreign markets, including Africa.

‘South Africa is among the top five countries of interest to our technology leaders. We have signed an agreement with the University of South Africa, and together with Geoscan, Innopraktika is already working in Angola, Burkina Faso, and Madagascar, and is now entering the South African market with solutions in magnetic geological exploration,’ she explained.

As Pavel Kalmychek, Director of the Department for Bipartite Cooperation Development at the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, summed up, "we are really moving from trade relations with the African countries to deep cooperation, and the potential for this interaction is enormous".