Memorandum on media interaction between the two sides was signed during the Russia-Africa Club meeting

A meeting of the Russia-Africa Club was held at Lomonosov Moscow State University. The meeting was organised by the Faculty of Journalism and the Department of Global Processes at Lomonosov Moscow State University with the support of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.

The event was dedicated to the signing of a memorandum on information interaction between African and Russian media, which endorses the principles of fair cooperation in information exchange and the establishment of the Association of Russian and African Journalists. It aims to coordinate efforts for the establishment and strengthening of trusting bilateral relations in this field.

This agreement is aimed to expand cooperation in the field of information, including the strengthening of ties between national, regional and local media, information exchange, training (retraining) of journalists, contacts within the relevant ministries and departments as well as businesses and public organizations.

Moreover, according to the memorandum, scientific and educational cooperation in the field of media will be promoted for the development of scientific communications, as well as for increasing media literacy in Russia and African states. The parties also agreed to promote the mutual inclusion of Russian and African media in the national networks of digital terrestrial and cable TV broadcasting, print media, information and analytical portals and social networks.

"The club was formed a year ago. But the partnership of journalists began to develop only this spring. There is already a friendly community open to each other. This interest of the parties is very visible, and journalists are already building direct links with each other - between their agencies and media structures," said Elena Vartanova, Dean of the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University.

"We talked about the need for coexistence in the media space of Africa and Russia not only for large corporations, but also for small media, which are addressed to people in their language, within their cultural tradition. They also talked about the importance of respecting each nation with its traditions and culture, and how important it is in today's world to build direct communication between different nations. This meeting opened up new aspects of the topic and led to the formation of new cooperation goals and new structures," she added.

Elena Vartanova, as vice-president of the Russia-Africa Club, promised that they will work on these structures and propose them for information interaction. In her view, the community will grow. She mentioned the prospect of new formats for the club's existence, for example, in the form of some kind of digital platform. The student community is very interested both in learning about African journalism and in connecting with colleagues from different countries on the continent.

Louis Gowand, an expert in international business communications and founder of Helloafrica.ru, noted that Africans are becoming more and more interested in Russia.

“The professional friendship between the African and Russian media will enable Africans to learn more about life in Russia, and Russians to learn more about life in Africa," said Gowand.

According to him, this meeting can be considered the launch date of the Association of Russian and African Journalists.

The main purpose of the new body is to create a platform for constant communication between African and Russian journalists, so they can meet, exchange materials and receive comments. And we are talking about different spheres - culture, sports, science, cinema, economy and politics.

"We thought that the ideal place for such communication would be a professional social network that would bring like-minded people together. The decision has already been made. We are now working on the technical implementation of this platform," said the international business communications expert.

Mustapha Muhammed Jamiu, Executive Director of the Centre for Media and Development Research in Africa and Assistant to the Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Philology, RUDN University of Russia, stressed that the need for such an event was long overdue.

"Today's forum is a very important, in some ways historical event. I believe that the time has long come for African journalists and their Russian colleagues to get together and discuss how to establish a meaningful exchange of information. I believe that this is only the beginning of the relationship between Russia and Africa in such a format," he said.

The Russia-Africa Club brings together Russian and African diplomats, politicians, public figures, representatives of the business community, science, education and culture areas.

Photo: Russia-Africa Club