The Russian’s leader Vladimir Putin has invited his South Sudanese counterpart, Salva Kiir for the Russia-Africa summit.

This year’s summit, a Russian envoy said, will take place at St. Petersburg in July.

On Wednesday, Russia’s non-residence ambassador to South Sudan, Vladlen Semivolos extended Putin’s invitation letter to President Salva Kiir.

Both leaders also discussed bilateral relations between the two countries.

“[The] Russian ambassador to South Sudan Vladlen Semivolos noted relations between the two countries have been developing for the benefit of both countries. The cooperation ties cover a wide range of areas, including political dialogue, education, economics, and humanitarian sectors,” partly reads a statement from the presidency.

Ambassador Semivolos further revealed that cooperation in the education sector is stronger as the Russian government is increasing government scholarships for South Sudanese to study at top universities in Russian.

Russia was one of the nations that recognized South Sudan’s independence in 2011.

Last year, South Sudan supported the African Union’s condemnation of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine.