UNESCO Center

In early November, on Langkawi Island in the Strait of Malacca, a meeting of the Organizing Committee was held to prepare for a representative international summit. The Russian and Malaysian sides reached an agreement in principle to hold it in the autumn of 2026 in the Russian Federation at the venue of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University.

The International Competence Center for Mining Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO, in partnership with the National Association of Mining Engineers and Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, has developed the International Standard for the Training of Mining Industry Engineers (ISREE).

Russia has initiated a raw materials dialogue with the poorest continent. Recently, at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University in St. Petersburg, the Russia–Africa Raw Materials Dialogue took place, bringing together over 500 representatives from more than 40 African countries and 130 organizations. The focus was on the question crucial for the continent of how to make the long-proclaimed sovereignty of African countries over their natural resources a reality, and to put these resources at the service of their own development.

Educational and scientific ties of the oldest technical university in Russia with universities, government authorities, and industrial circles of the African continent, as a rule, lead to joint projects in business. An example of this is the agreement to create a joint venture for the extraction of mineral resources, IMMA (Infinity Morion Mountainous Area), between the Morion Group of Companies and the Egyptian company Infinity Magic Group Integrated Solutions.

The Russia-Africa Raw Materials Dialogue has concluded at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. For two days, experts from 32 countries discussed the development of economies on the African continent and, crucially, Russia’s role in this process. The concluding part of the forum consisted of round tables on the topics of the future of the global mining industry, modern technologies for the development and extraction of raw materials, new joint projects, and the training of a new generation of engineers.

In the Congress Hall of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, an agreement was signed between the International Competence Center for Mining Engineering Education under the auspices of UNESCO and the Association of African Universities. This event, along with the address by the university’s rector, Professor Vladimir Litvinenko, became one of the central events of the Russia–Africa Raw Materials Dialogue.

In the Congress Hall of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, the Russia–Africa Raw Materials Dialogue “The Path of Development: Mineral Resources and Personnel as the Foundation of Economic Sovereignty” has begun its work. Its mission is expressed by the key thesis of the anti-colonial declaration adopted 65 years ago by the UN General Assembly at the initiative of our country: “peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources.”

Discussion among representatives of government, business, universities, and scientific and public organizations on ways to intensify scientific and economic cooperation in the efficient use of the resources of Africa and Russia will take place at Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University from October 29 to November 1, 2025.

The student team of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University won the “Best Well Management” category at the PetroCup International Student Oil and Gas Olympiad (Northern Eurasia League). In the overall standings, the university placed second. The top three also included ITMO University and Saint Petersburg State University.

”Africa is currently in active search of social institutions that would take responsibility for the urgently needed accelerated industrial and social development,” — this is how the new article by Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University, begins on RIA Novosti. The author writes that the continent, which is the most promising in terms of natural resources, can no longer afford to continue the zero-sum game imposed by Western corporations. Therefore, it is turning its focus toward Russia.