UNESCO Center

At the end of January 2024, a representative delegation from Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University spent a working week in Shiraz, the second capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran, at the invitation of Shiraz University. The administrators, scientists and young teachers studied in detail the methodology of the educational system of the country, its scientific component, visited the enterprises of Fars Province, held a number of negotiations with representatives of the university, industrialists, employees of state bodies.

In the context of a mobilised economy and the solidarity of the population with this position of the state, there is no other option but to build relations with industry, paraphrasing the slogan ”Everything for the front, everything for victory”. That is, any research or development should serve the task of intensive technological development of the country. In Iran, this is exactly the case.

In 1979, mass demonstrations against the Shah’s regime took place in Iran, resulting in Reza Pahlavi’s flight and a complete change in the country’s state system.

How beautiful is my blooming Shiraz! May God Almighty protect it! Come to Shiraz and see it: Everyone who lives in it is perfect.

Trade turnover between Russia and Africa continues to grow. In the first eight months of last year, it increased by 43.5%, to $15.5 billion, and the share of the countries of the sunny continent in the total volume of our foreign trade increased from 2.3% to 3.7%. The dynamics is undoubtedly positive, especially if we take into account that the overwhelming majority of experts are confident in its preservation.

A major international congress ”Africa Seeks Solutions”, attended by heads of leading universities, representatives of executive and legislative authorities, scientists and businessmen from more than 40 countries of the sunny continent, ended in St. Petersburg. Many of these countries have even more mineral resources per capita than Russia, but are unable to monetize them and use them to improve the quality of life of the population.

The initiative group of the new community includes higher education institutions supported by their Governments. This will allow them to participate on equal terms in the implementation of partnership programmes envisaged by the agreement.

The idea for this forum was born during the II Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum. On Tuesday, 12 December, the Empress Catherine II St. Petersburg Mining University hosted the opening ceremony of the International Congress ”Africa Seeks Solutions”. More than 100 heads of leading universities, representatives of executive and legislative authorities, as well as big business from more than 40 countries of the continent are taking part in the Congress.

In December, the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University will host the International Congress ”Africa Seeks Solutions”, during which the Russian-African Consortium of Technical Higher Education Institutions will be established and the relevant founding documents will be signed. The task of the new structure will be to develop and coordinate co-operation between the parties in the field of education and science, as well as to promote sustainable development of the extractive and processing sectors.

Behrouz Abtahi, Vice Chancellor for International Relations of Iran’s Shahid Beheshti University, paid a working visit to the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. During the meeting with the Dean of the Mining Faculty Oleg Kazanin he discussed the prospects of co-operation between the two universities in the field of research related to deep-sea mining of solid minerals.