On June 28, 2024, the President of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Katenev took part in the meeting of the Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov with the President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso. During the meeting held in Smolny, the parties discussed issues of developing economic and humanitarian cooperation between St. Petersburg and the Republic of the Congo, as well as other countries of the African continent.

The meeting took place as part of the official visit to Russia of a delegation from the Republic of Congo. The day before, in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Denis Sassou Nguesso with the Order of Honor for his great contribution to strengthening relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of the Congo. Alexander Beglov congratulated the President of the Republic of Congo on this high state award.

The President of the Republic of the Congo had previously visited St. Petersburg, participating in the Russia-Africa summit, which was attended by 48 countries of the African continent. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of friendly relations between Russia and Congo. As Vladimir Putin noted, the African continent is becoming a new center of power, and its role is growing exponentially.

Cooperation with African countries is becoming one of the priorities for St. Petersburg. The first St. Petersburg Business Information Center in Africa has already been opened, which is located in Addis Ababa, where the headquarters of the African Union is located.

Alexander Beglov emphasized that the geography of St. Petersburg’s partner cities on the African continent is expanding. Partners already include Alexandria (Egypt), Cape Town and Johannesburg (South Africa), Khartoum (Sudan), Bizerte (Tunisia), and in the near future the capital of Congo, Brazzaville, will be added to them. The draft cooperation agreement between St. Petersburg and Brazzaville is undergoing the approval procedure.

Denis Sassou Nguesso thanked Alexander Beglov for the warm welcome and noted that during the visit to St. Petersburg it is planned to determine prospects for future cooperation and outline specific stages for the implementation of projects of mutual interest. Among the promising areas of cooperation, Alexander Beglov noted medicine and pharmaceuticals, ecology, water supply and sanitation, energy saving, information technology, road construction, food security and agriculture, development of electric transport and charging infrastructure.

Representatives of the ministries of the Republic of the Congo noted that these areas are of mutual interest, including the experience of St. Petersburg in the disinfection of drinking water, the creation of special economic zones, the support of scientific developments, the production of medicines and vaccines, agricultural machinery, and the construction of roads and interchanges. The President of the Republic of Congo emphasized the country's enormous potential for the development of ecotourism.

A separate topic at the meeting was cooperation in the field of education. Alexander Beglov reported that more than two thousand students from African countries are studying at St. Petersburg universities this academic year, including 37 from the Republic of Congo. St. Petersburg universities and scientific organizations have concluded more than 60 agreements with African partners, and at the Russia-Africa forum, 10 African countries signed an agreement to create the Consortium of Technical Universities “The Subsoil of Africa” on the basis of the Mining University.

We thank the press service of the Governor of St. Petersburg for the materials provided.