The Federation Council Speaker sent greetings to participants in the signing ceremony for the Agreement of Intent on creating the Nedra Afriki University Consortium.
Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko sent greetings to participants in the signing ceremony for the Agreement of Intent on creating the Nedra Afriki University Consortium. The ceremony took place at the St Petersburg Mining University on the sidelines of the second Russia-Africa Summit. The message of greetings was read out by Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture Lyudmila Skakovskaya.
The Federation Council Speaker described cooperation in science and education as an invariable priority of Russia’s foreign policy in Africa. “Following the traditions of friendship laid down during the Soviet period, we are ready to build up the effort to meet the African countries’ needs for specialists in various areas of industry, agriculture, power generation, transport and healthcare,” Valentina Matvienko noted. She believes that Russia’s contribution will help the counties on the continent, which are confidently making political and economic gains, to assert themselves as a pillar in the burgeoning multi-polar world.
According to the Speaker, the initiative to create the University Consortium is viewed as a key element in efforts to strengthen the economic sovereignty of the African nations. “Implementing this project will enable the leading technological education institutions on the African continent to use the best Russian education methods and practices and ensure quality educations for their own engineers and technicians in the mining industry.”
Valentina Matvienko hopes that the consortium will provide an impetus for expanding Russian-African cooperation in other research and academic areas.
The signing ceremony was attended by delegations from eight African countries.