The St. Petersburg Mining University was visited on a working meeting by Ousmane Drame, president of the private Ahmed Baba University, located in the capital of Mali, Bamako. This university is one of the few institutions of higher education in West Africa, which trains specialists for the metallurgical and mining industry.
As the guest noted, many members of his country's political elite were once educated in the Soviet Union, and are therefore eager to develop cooperation with Moscow. Against the background of the withdrawal of the French military from the Republic and the noticeable cooling of diplomatic relations with Paris in general, our country is seen as a partner capable of ensuring the sustainable development of Mali.
"We are experiencing a real staff shortage. And we are talking not only about engineers, but also about teachers. St. Petersburg Mining University is known as the world's flagship of specialized education, so we are interested in building academic ties with your university. In particular we would like to send our students here so that they could study at master and postgraduate programs and then return to the homeland to work as teachers and scientists," - said Ousmane Dramé.
During a meeting with his colleague, Rector Vladimir Litvinenko, he talked about plans to build a Russian language center in Bamako, where Malian high school students will study. This will allow them to adapt faster in Russia, with subsequent enrollment in our universities.
"The inhabitants and politicians of many African states have long been convinced that Europe's neo-colonial policy is aimed only at providing the metropolis with cheap raw materials, just as in previous centuries, or to expand the market for its consumer goods. At the same time, no support is given to the local population, no conditions are created for the progress of national economies. Because the essence of liberal ideology is exclusively for the enrichment of Western elites at the expense of the control of world resources and capital. Russia in the past and now while building partnership relations adheres to principally different approaches based on observance of mutual interests and taking into account mutual benefits", - stressed Vladimir Litvinenko.
It is worth mentioning that the II Economic and Humanitarian Forum Russia-Africa will be held in St. Petersburg in late July. It is planned that a large delegation headed by President Assimi Goita will arrive from Mali to take part in it. The president, who came to power in 2020 on the wave of mass protests of the local population, who demanded from the authorities to put an end to the economic crisis and numerous terrorist groups. With the connivance of French troops, these gangs then controlled a large part of the country.
The commander of the Special Reaction Force Battalion, Assimi Goita, was appointed chairman of the National Committee for the Salvation of the People. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to stabilize the situation democratically, he declared that "there were no neutral civilian politicians in the country" - only supporters of Francophonie, which had brought Mali to a dead end, and therefore the military "had to take power into its own hands." One of the colonel's decisions as head of state was the end of the Parisian military operation "Barkhan. It had been conducted since 2013 and was directed against the expansion of Islamist terrorist groups.
