ST. PETERSBURG, July 27. /TASS/. Africa's share in Russia's foreign trade turnover climbed from 2.3% in 2022 to 3.7% in 2023, acting head of Russia's Federal Customs Service Ruslan Davydov said on Thursday.

"Last year, trade with Africa accounted for 2.3% of total Russian trade turnover, and it is already 3.7% this year. That is, it is pretty evident that the vacant position of unfriendly countries that do not want to work with us is taken by countries who are willing to collaborate with us, particularly African countries," he said.

The second Russia-Africa Summit is taking place at St. Petersburg’s Expoforum on July 27-28, in parallel with economic and humanitarian forums. Similar to the first such summit in 2019, the event is being held under the rubric "For Peace, Security and Development." The event is being organized by the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is the event’s official information partner and photo-hosting agency.