President Museveni confirms participation in 2nd Russia-Africa Summit

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said that he will attend the upcoming Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.

The President Made the revelation on Saturday March 25 in an interview with a Russian news agency 

"I will definitely come to St. Petersburg in July. In this issue, the political will is of crucial importance. It is not an issue of needs, but an issue of ideology. As long as you profess the ideology of equality and brotherhood, the other things are simply details," Museveni told a Russian news agency.

The Russia–Africa Summit is the highest-profile and largest-scale event in Russian–African relations, aimed at bringing about a fundamentally new level of mutually beneficial partnership to meet the challenges of the 21st century. 

The goal of the event is to promote efforts to strengthen comprehensive and equal cooperation between Russia and African nations across all areas of society including politics, security, economic relations, science and technology, and the cultural and humanitarian spheres.

Museveni had a good decade of increasing communication and cooperation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin is a key supplier of Uganda’s equipment, technology and knowledge transfer in the military sector.

“Whenever issues come up and some people want to take positions against Russians, we say these people have been with us for over 100 years. We have even forgiven colonizers ... the people who made us slaves," Museveni said when Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently visited Uganda.

The second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum is scheduled for July 26 - 29. The first summit was held Oct. 22 - 24, 2019, in Sochi under the slogan: “For Peace, Security and Development.” This was the first time in the history of modern Russia that an event of this kind was held at such a high level, and it is unprecedented in the history of Russian-African relations. Priority areas of economic cooperation in which concrete results can be achieved in the coming years were outlined.

At the Summit a final declaration was adopted by the participants. The document outlines a set of goals and objectives for the further development of Russian-African cooperation in politics, security, the economy, science, technology, culture and humanitarian fields.

Uganda is among 17 African nations that abstained from a UN vote to condemn Russia's war in Ukraine.