At the Global Digital Forum held in Nizhny Novgorod on June 5–6, 2025, the delegation of the HSE University Center for African Studies signed a cooperation agreement between HSE University and the Universal Telecommunications Service Development Fund of the Republic of Senegal.

The agreement provides for the organization of joint educational programs for Senegalese civil servants on the use of digital technologies, as well as the joint implementation of projects in the field of digitalization.

The agreement was signed by Viktoria Vladimirovna Panova, Vice-Rector of HSE University, and Ndeye Fatou Ndiaye, Coordinator of the Fund. The signing was witnessed by Andrey Alexandrovich Maslov, Director of the HSE Center for African Studies, on the Russian side, and by Mamadou Ndir, Project Coordinator of the Fund, on the Senegalese side.

The agreement reinforces bilateral cooperation within the framework of the Competence Transfer Program in the Digitalization of Public Administration, which has been implemented by the HSE Center for African Studies since 2022.

As part of the Forum, the Center also reached an agreement with the University of Gondar (Ethiopia) on the development of academic exchanges and joint research in the use of IT solutions in agriculture and the promotion of food sovereignty.

The agreement was signed during the participation of the Center's delegation in the Global Digital Forum, held on June 5–6, 2025, in Nizhny Novgorod.

The signatories were Viktoria Vladimirovna Panova, Vice-Rector of HSE University, and Asrat Atsedeweyn, Rector of the University of Gondar. The signing was witnessed by Andrey Alexandrovich Maslov, Director of the HSE Center for African Studies, and Kehali Jemberie Tiruneh, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences of the University of Gondar.