MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. Russia’s Western opponents are trying to prevent African states from taking part in the second Russia-Africa summit, scheduled to take place in July 2023 in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg, Federation Council Deputy Speaker Konstantin Kosachev said on Friday.

"The second summit will be drastically different from the first one in terms of atmosphere surrounding it. Our geopolitical rivals, primarily from the West, will do everything within their powers to prevent African partners from taking part in this meeting and to antithesize it to the Africa-US summit, which is currently taking place with wide participation of African states," the senator told a roundtable on Russia’s strategic interests in Africa.

In Kosachev’s opinion, the first Russia-Africa summit held three years ago was successful, "but, in many respects, its results remained within the dimension of politics" and were not translated into additional projects in trade, economic, scientific or humanitarian cooperation.

"I’m sure it will be a very serious miscalculation on our part if the next year’s summit is not prepared in a drastically different fashion, providing each of its participants with a concise roadmap of our bilateral relations, with clear incentives to participate and conclude practical agreements," the deputy speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper chamber said.

"Trade turnover speaks for itself. Roughly, the European Union’s trade with Africa stands at around $300 billion, China’s - at around $150 billion, the US - approximately 50-60 billion. Despite the tendency to grow, our current turnover is around 20 billion," Kosachev added.