Andrey Maslov

Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, took part in the discussion of Russian-Ethiopian cooperation during the meeting of the Co-Chairmen of the Intergovernmental Russian-Ethiopian Commission in Addis Ababa

On January 30, 2025, the 12th Joint Intergovernmental Russian-Algerian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation took place in Algiers.

On January 26, 2025,  HSE Center for African Studies met with the  National School of Artificial Intelligence (ENSIA, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Intelligence Artificielle) in Algiers.

Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, took part at the round table “Chad after the elections: political situation, threats to stability and development prospects” organized by the Russian news agency “African Initiative”.

From December 22 to 25, 2024, the director of the Center for African Studies, Andrey Maslov, Deputy Coordinator of the E-Governance Knowledge-Sharing Program, Phillip Grinin, and UNECA’s research consultant, Ophelia Amo, visited the city of Brazzaville at the invitation of Leon Juste Ibombo, Honorable Minister of Posts, Telecommunications, and the Digital Economy of the Republic of Congo.

The HSE University Centre for African Studies has presented an English-language expert-analytical handbook titled ‘Africa 2025: Prospects and Challenges.’ For the first time, Russian experts have prepared a comprehensive work aimed at an African audience rather than Russian readers. The handbook incorporates a significant amount of new data and introduces new approaches for assessing development prospects. The presentation took place in Sochi on November 9, 2024, during the First Ministerial Conference of the Russia–Africa Partnership Forum.

On November 9-10, the First Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum was held at Sirius University in Sochi.

The main focus of the Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) is on strengthening cooperation in the field of e-Governance in Africa.

On August 30, experts of the Center, its partners and friends celebrated the Center’s Birthday, as well as discussed current and future projects.

Lecturers of African Area Studies discussed the region's significance and their personal experience with African politics and culture.

On 30 July 2024, Andrey Maslov, Director of the Centre for African Studies, and Deputy Director, Vsevolod Sviridov, discussed the prospects of Russia-Zimbabwe cooperation in the field of e-Governance with Tafara Matekaire. Mr. Matekaire highly appreciated the results of theWinter E-Governance Knowledge Sharing Week, held in December 2023 at the HSE in Moscow. The project was launched within thee-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program.

On July 24, the opening of the Russian-African conference “Russia– Africa: a Strategy for Cooperation in a Multipolar World” took place in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), which was attended by A.B. Likhacheva, Dean of the Faculty of World Economics and International Affairs of the Higher School of Economics, as well as F.A. Lukyanov, I.A. Makarov and A.A. Maslov.

On July 25, 2024 Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, and Anna Bondarenko, Executive Director of Intexpertise LLC, met with Gilead Teri, Executive Director of the Tanzania Investment Center (TIC), and Binilith S. Mahenge, Chairman of its Board of Directors, and discussed prospects for Russian investors in Tanzania.

In early July, the HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs (WEIA) on Malaya Ordynka hosted the annual Open Air Festival of its bachelor's programmes. In a relaxed atmosphere of the inner courtyard, guests interacted with WEIA administrators, faculty members, students, and graduates. Chinese characters and ice cream, origami and photo sessions, Portuguese desserts and Korean souvenirs, Turkish sweets, and African stickers were just a fraction of what guests could taste, enjoy, or win in quizzes testing their knowledge of the world.

On July 18, 2024, Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center, and Deputy Director Vsevolod Sviridov, met with Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, who is the Rector of Makerere University. Evgeny Kalashnikov, Russian Charge d’affaires in Uganda, also took part in a meeting.

On 18 July 2024, Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center, and Deputy Director, Vsevolod Sviridov, met with Chris Baryomunsi, Minister of Information and Communications Technology and National Guidance of Uganda. Evgeny Kalashnikov, Charge d’affaires of Russia in Uganda, and Michael Ocero, Acting Commissioner for e-Services at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, also took part in the meeting.

On 16 July 2024, the delegation of the HSE Center for African Studies met with the Commission’s Director General, Nkundwe Moses Mwasaga, at its office in Dar es Salaam.

At the beginning of July, Open Air, the annual festival of bachelor's degree programs of #world_faculty - was held in Malaya Ordynka, where the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the HSE University is located.

On June 25, the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the HSE University hosted a dialogue on diplomatic service in Africa with the participation of Russian diplomat, Alexander Polyakov. The event was devoted to diplomatic work in African countries. The session was moderated by Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies.

The delegation of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the Higher School of Economics University visited the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum held on June 5-8, 2024.

At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Nikita Anisimov, Rector of the HSE University, and Natalia Popova, First Deputy CEO of Innopraktika, signed an agreement on strategic cooperation.

A school focusing on the digitalisation of public administration for civil servants from African countries was held in Moscow in December 2023. The school proved the high demand for Russian training programmes — representatives of 23 countries and 3 international organisations received certificates following advanced training.

On December 12, 2023, the Government Coordination Center hosted a strategic session led by the Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Among the invited participants were executives and representatives of the higher educational institutions, heads of major companies and organizations involved in international trade. The topic of the discussion was the development of Russia's foreign economic activity with the increasing role of developing economies in the background.

On December 22, 2023, the Winter E-Governance Knowledge-Sharing Week for African officials, organized by the HSE Center for African Studies with the support of Innopraktika, closed.

The experts of the HSE Center for African Studies have prepared and published a handbook on digitalization of public administration in Africa - “E-Governance in Africa 2024: Opportunities and Challenges”. The publication was reviewed by Moctar Seck, Head of the Innovation and Technology Sector of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

On December 18, 2023, Moscow hosted the opening ceremony of the E-Governance Knowledge-Sharing Week for African officials, organized by the HSE Center for African Studies with the support of Innopraktika.

The delegation of the Centre for African Studies was on a working visit to Tanzania from October 19 to 28. With the assistance of the Russian Embassy in Tanzania, the Centre’s staff met with the leadership of the Tanzanian departments responsible for digitalization in order to inform them about the E-Governance Knowledge Sharing Program. The Center’s staff also met with representatives of Russian authorities and businesses and attended the Tanzania Annual ICT Conference (TAIC) and Tanzania Mining & Investment Forum.

The Russian-African Competence Transfer Programme in the Field of Public Administration Digitalisation in African Countries, which is being implemented by HSE University's Centre for African Studies, will be partially state-financed. The subsidy will be provided by the Russian government in accordance with the corresponding order signed on September 21.

On July 26, 2023, a military coup took place in Niger, overthrowing President Mohamed Bazoum and forming the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, headed by Abdourahamane Tchiani. A month later, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the withdrawal of the French military from Niger. In their media comments, experts of the Center for African Studies of the HSE University analyze the events in Niger.

On 28 July, at the Second Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, a round table "Knowledge Sharing: Exchange of Experience in the Field of Digitalization of Public Administration" was held. The discussion was moderated by Anastasia Pavlenko, Deputy Executive Director and Director for Strategic Partnerships of the non-state development institute Innopraktika. The event was attended by Andrey Maslov, Director of the HSE University Center for African Studies and Coordinator of the Knowledge Sharing Program; Igor Lyapunov, Senior Vice President for Information Security at Rostelecom and General Director of Rostelecom-Solar; Souef Kamalidini, Minister of Post, Telecommunications and Digital Economy of the Comoros; Peya Mushelenga, Minister of Information and Communication Technology of Namibia; Orlando Mazuze, General Manager of MaCh Digital (Mozambique); and Adamu Garba, President of IPI (Nigeria).

On August 25, 2023, the RIAC round table on the results of the BRICS summit, which took place in South Africa on August 22-24, 2023, was held at the Izvestia Media Center. Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, spoke about the results of the XV BRICS Summit and the prospects for the organization's development through the creation of new institutions and admission of new members.

Russian and African civil servants are to exchange experience in the field of digitalisation. The programme was presented by HSE University’s Centre for African Studies in cooperation with the Innopraktika company. The programme organisers are also ready to carry out educational events in any country on the continent.

On July 28, 2023, the second Russia-Africa summit and the Economic and Humanitarian Forum ended in St. Petersburg.

Africa has the potential to become a new economic giant. Today, African countries are interested in comprehensive cooperation and strengthening their positions in the global arena, and they look forward to receiving assistance from Russia and China in developing their technology, economy, and social sphere. Effective engagement with Africa requires training a greater number of professional African studies specialists. The XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference at HSE University featured a plenary session on 'Africa in a Changing World'.

On January 25, 2023 'BRICS model' was held at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs: 'Financial settlements between BRICS countries in their national currencies: opportunities and prospects'

On December 15 2022, HSE Center for African Studies in partnership with the company Innopraktika held the round table « Russia-Africa: Digital Transformation of Public Administration » and presented there the concept of the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Hub for Africa. The experts discussed suggestions regarding the contents of the e-Governance Knowledge Sharing Programme and presented reports on the prospects of cooperation with African countries in the digital markets.

Russia and Nigeria have good prospects for cooperation in many economic sectors—from mining, petrochemicals, agriculture, and high-tech manufacturing to education and mutual investment. The Embassy of Nigeria in Russia, together with NUIA Consulting and HSE University, has held a business briefing on ‘Entering New Markets: Nigeria—Opportunities, Prospects and Practical Experience of Russian Companies’.

There is major potential for economic and humanitarian cooperation between Russia and African countries. Particularly, Russian organisations and universities can help transfer competencies and knowledge in the fields of agriculture, energy, industrial production, environmental management, climate change, and public administration. Experts and representatives of African embassies in Russia discussed these issues at the round table ‘Russia-Africa Sharing Knowledge’ hosted by HSE University.

On December 27, Andrey Maslov was appointed Director of the HSE Centre for African Studies. In his interview with the HSE News Service, Mr. Maslov talks about the Centre’s objectives, whether HSE students will be engaged in the Centre’s activities, Russian-African relations and the practicalities of doing business in African markets.