ST. PETERSBURG, July 26. /TASS/. African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu and Permanent Representative of the Arab Maghreb Union to the African Union Amina Salman have arrived in St. Petersburg for the Russia-Africa Summit, a TASS correspondent reported.

Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Tuesday that "literally all heads of Africa’s leading regional organizations will be present" at the summit. He listed the African Union, the East African Community, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Southern African Development Community, the Economic Community of Central African States, the Economic Community of West African States, the Arab Maghreb Union and the African Export-Import Bank.

Earlier, Oleg Ozerov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large and head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, said that Moscow was seeking to build equitable, peer-to-peer relations with Africa and the countries of the continent are ready to reciprocate. According to the diplomat, the future of relations between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and sub-regional African organizations may be discussed on the sidelines of the upcoming Russia-Africa Summit. Ozerov specified that talks on the matter were expected to take place both at bilateral meetings between African leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as during multilateral events.

The second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum are scheduled to be held in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on July 27-28. The first event, themed "For Peace, Security and Development," took place in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi in October 2019. The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is the summit’s information partner and photo hosting agency.