ST. PETERSBURG, July 27. /TASS/. Africa is ready to work with Russia across all domains as it views Moscow as the continent’s special partner, President Azali Assoumani of the Union of Comoros, Chairperson of the African Union (AU), told a plenary meeting of the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum on Thursday.

"Given the abundance of our human and natural resources and the dynamics of our continent and the available labor force, we look forward to close cooperation. It is obvious to us that Russia plays a special role in our partnership, and we are ready to work in all major directions in our cooperation with Russia," Assoumani said.

According to him, "the forum comes at a special period for Africa." "As you know, the African free trade zone was established to promote our cooperation at the summit in Niamey in July 2023," Assoumani continued. "Also, we are busy developing an African agenda until 2063. And all this, all these projects, should translate into new opportunities for both local and international businesses which are ready to invest in Africa," he concluded.

The second Russia-Africa Summit is taking place at St. Petersburg’s Expoforum on July 27-28, in parallel with an economic and humanitarian forum. 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.