Russia's Energy Ministry says Russian companies are ready to train African specialists

MOSCOW. October 14. INTERFAX.RU - Africa and the Global South are a strategic direction for the development of Russia's energy ties with foreign countries, said Rustam Alypkachev, press secretary of the Ministry of Energy.

"The Energy Ministry sees the development of these relations based on the principles of energy justice - this means non-discriminatory access to technologies and knowledge, and equal partnership, which African countries were deprived of for a long time," the press secretary of the Russian Energy Ministry said, speaking on Wednesday at a session as part of Youth Day of Russian Energy Week (REW).

He emphasized that Russian energy companies "are ready not only to supply resources and competencies, but also to train specialists."

In this regard, he noted that an important tool for training specialists is the provision of quotas for their education, so-called "targeted training," and Rosatom alone allocates about 100 such quotas, and there are also quotas in other fields.

He recalled that Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev is co-chair of five intergovernmental commissions with African countries, at whose meetings the issue of studying the Russian language in schools is regularly discussed. In particular, following Tsivilev's visit to the Central African Republic, an agreement was reached that the Russian language will be studied on a mandatory basis in schools in that country.

The Energy Ministry representative added that African countries show particular interest in developing nuclear energy. "We are ready to supply technologies as a package, training specialists in building a fully integrated power grid complex, including where new solutions in cybersecurity need to be proposed. Russia is currently at the forefront of this work. And countries that want to have sovereignty must take this into account," Alypkachev said.

He also noted the program of "RusHydro" on cooperation with African countries, since "this is a large track that is well known to Africa." "A separate important area is hydrosystem management; RusHydro has now developed such a program, and they are ready to work with African partners," the Energy Ministry representative said.

In turn, Georgy Tikhomirov, deputy director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics and Technology at NRNU MEPhI, noted that many foreigners study at MEPhI and its branches; for example, there are 63 people at the Moscow campus alone, and more than 60 people from Africa at the Obninsk campus. "We are talking about more than ten African countries. These are, of course, Egypt, Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia," he said.

He also noted that Rosatom and MEPhI cooperate closely with the IAEA, which has a separate scholarship for foreign students who want to "enter the nuclear industry."

He particularly emphasized that "African countries need new energy more than anyone," and expressed hope that these countries will develop a strategy for the development of various types of generation, including nuclear. "We, accordingly, will help create this elite, and these ties will continue," Tikhomirov assured.