‘Russian and African markets have enormous trade potential’

Tatyana Dovgalenko has been director of the Department for Partnership with Africa at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since January 2025. She graduated from MGIMO University in 1996. She speaks English, Italian, and French. She has been working in diplomacy since 1996. From 2016 to 2023, she was deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to Unesco in Paris. In 2023-2024, she was deputy director of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations, concurrently acting as executive secretary of the Russian Federation Commission for Unesco. From October 2024 to January 2025, she was ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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In February 2025 a new department was created within the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: the Department for Partnership with Africa. Prior to that, there were two departments, which continue to function today. These are the Department for the Middle East and North Africa and the Department for Africa. What is special about the new department, what are its goals and objectives, and what aspects do you, as its head, focus on the most?

Indeed, the Department for Partnership with Africa was created at the beginning of this year, and its creation reflects the importance that the leadership of the Russian Federation attaches to Africa in its foreign policy. Our colleagues are engaged in bilateral relations with countries on the continent. The Department for Partnership with Africa, so to speak, grew out of the secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.

As you know, the first Russia-Africa summit was held in 2019, and the second in 2023. Last year, the first ministerial conference took place. The increase in tasks, volume and connections dictated the need to provide human resources, including in the field of foreign policy.

In particular, at the summit in St. Petersburg in 2023, our joint action plan was approved together with the Africans. It is quite extensive and includes many projects in various areas: economic, investment, trade, political, security, and so on, which must be implemented by 2026, that is, before the next, third summit.

Therefore, the secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum has been incorporated into a new structure, the Department for Partnership with Africa. In addition, as powerful integration processes are gaining momentum on the African continent, our other task is to develop relations with regional and subregional integration structures, primarily with the AU.