ST. PETERSBURG, July 26. /TASS/. The President of Eritrea Isaias Afwerki and his delegation arrived in St. Petersburg for participation in the Russia-Africa Summit. His plane landed in the Pulkovo Airport.

Afwerki has been in office since 1993 and is the first and, as of now, the only president of Eritrea, which became independent from Ethiopia that year. In January this year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Eritrea within his Africa trip. Back then, Lavrov had a meeting with the President of Eritrea; the sides discussed economy, raw material mining, information and communications technologies, agriculture, infrastructure projects, capabilities of the Mitsiwa naval port and airport, as well as Russia’s proposals on development of industry in Eritrea.

Earlier, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin will have a meeting with Afwerki. Earlier in May, the President of Eritrea already traveled to Russia with an official visit and had a meeting with the Russian counterpart. During the meeting, Putin positively assessed the relations between Russia and Eritrea, emphasizing the development of ties in the humanitarian area.

Just like with Russia, the US previously imposed a number of restrictions against some Eritrean politicians, military officers and organizations. Earlier, Eritrea was subjected to UN sanctions.

The second Russia-Africa Summit will take place in St. Petersburg’s Expoforum on July 27-29, in parallel with economic and humanitarian forums. The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is the event’s informational partner and photo hosting agency.