MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. The majority of African countries have accepted the invitation to take part in the Russia-Africa summit due to be held in St. Petersburg in late July, a Russian diplomat said on Monday.

"I can confirm that the majority of the countries of this continent have given their consent to attend [the summit]," Oleg Ozerov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Ambassador at Large and head of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum’s Secretariat, said at a roundtable meeting at Russia’s Federation Council (upper parliament house).

According to the diplomat, the summit is expected to give an impetus to the development of Russia’s ties with the continent. "The Russian foreign ministry is closely working with African countries. Over the past year, [Russian Foreign Minister] Sergey Lavrov has taken four African tours, with the latest one - to Burundi, Kenya, Mozambique, and South Africa - taking place slightly more than a week ago. And all of his visits demonstrated that Africa’s leaders have even higher hopes for the St. Petersburg summit than for the Sochi event," he added.

The second Russia-Asia summit and economic forum are scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg from July 26 through 29. The first such summit was held in Sochi from October 22-24, 2019 under the motto "For Peace, Security, and Development.".