News

From June 5 to 6, 2025, experts and partners of the HSE Center for African Studies participated in the Global Digital Forum in Nizhny Novgorod. Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center, moderated the session "Russia-Africa: Cooperation for Digital Sovereignty". among the speakers were participants and partners of the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program, including officials from Tanzania, the Republic of the Congo, the Comoros, representatives of Rostelecom and Sberbank.

From May 26 to 30, 2025, Vsevolod Sviridov, Deputy Director of the HSE Center for African Studies, paid a working trip to Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, as part of a joint delegation from Sberbank and School 21 (Sberbank's educational project for training IT specialists).

On May, 20, 2025, Director of the HSE Center for African Studies participated in the International Security Conference on Africa (ISCA) in Kigali, Rwanda.

From May 14 to 16, 2025, the World Summit on the Information Society in Africa (WSIS+20) was held in Cotonou, Benin. The high-level hybrid event was organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in collaboration with the Government and the National Assembly of the Republic of Benin.

From April 21 to 23, 2025, Andrey Maslov, coordinator of the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program, and Philip Grinin, Deputy coordinator, made a working trip to Algeria, during which they participated in the international exhibition of information and communication technologies ICT Africa Summit 2025. 

On April 24, 2025, Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, met with Mr. Rashid Ali Abdallah, Executive Director of the African Energy Commission, in Algiers, Algeria.

The HSE Center for African Studies signed an agreement with the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and the Digital Economy of the Republic of Congo. It aims to facilitate joint activities within the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program and provide opportunities for Russian companies to share their digital solutions with African states.

From April 14-16, 2025, the city of Marrakech, Morocco, hosted GITEX Africa 2025, the largest African science-tech and startup exhibition. 

On April 7, 2025, Philip Grinin, an expert at the HSE Centre for African Studies, participated in the Moscow Export Center's online consultation for Russian companies planning to attend GITEX AFRICA 2025, a tech innovation exhibition, which will be held in Marrakech, Morocco, on April 14-16, 2025. As a member of the Centre's delegation, Philip Grinin presented on the features of business negotiations with Moroccan partners.

On April 3, 2025, the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus hosted an expert discussion “Food Security in Africa: Humanitarian Challenges and Possible Solutions”. Among the participants of the English-language event were officials and business representatives, international and academic organizations working in Africa. Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, made a report on food sovereignty issues.