Russia-Africa summit participants plan to adopt comprehensive declaration - Putin

MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax) - The participants in the upcoming second Russia-Africa summit plan to adopt a package of agreements, a number of joint statements, and a comprehensive declaration, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"I would like to reiterate that we attach great importance to the upcoming second Russia-Africa Summit. We expect that the Summit would adopt a comprehensive Declaration, a number of joint statements and approve the Russia - Africa Partnership Forum Action Plan to 2026," Putin said in an article titled 'Russia and Africa: Joining Efforts for Peace, Progress and a Successful Future', published on the Kremlin website.

"We are working to prepare an impressive package of intergovernmental and inter-agency agreements and memoranda with individual states as well as regional associations of the continent," he said.

"Notwithstanding the sanctions, Russia will continue its energetic efforts to provide supplies of grain, food products, fertilizers and other goods to Africa," he said.

"We highly value and will further develop the full spectrum of economic ties with Africa - with individual states as well as regional integration associations and, naturally, with the African Union," he said.

"We welcome this organization's strategic course towards further economic integration and the formation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. We are ready to build pragmatic, mutually beneficial relations, including within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. We are also willing to step up cooperation with other regional integration organizations on the continent," he said.

Russia plans to continue providing assistance to African countries "in building their national human resource capacity," he said.

"Bringing humanitarian, cultural, sports and mass media cooperation to a whole new level would serve our common interests," Putin said.