Universities of Russia and Namibia prepare joint programs

At a meeting with the delegation, Secretary of the National Council of Namibia Tusi Namiseb noted that the country is glad to establish close cooperation with Russia, especially in the scientific and educational sphere in the fields of agriculture and transport, as these areas are critically important for the country’s economy. Experts expect that the expansion of Russian–Namibian cooperation will be based on cultural exchange, as well as the prompt establishment of inter-university ties and the organization of Russian language courses in Namibia. These issues have already been preliminarily discussed with State Duma deputy and member of the Russia–Namibia inter-parliamentary friendship group Dmitry Savelyev during the recent visit of a Namibian delegation to Moscow.

The commitment to long-standing friendship with Russia was also reaffirmed by Nahas Angula, chairman of the Sam Nujoma Foundation, who received the Russian delegation.

The visit of Russian specialists to Namibia helped accelerate the implementation of joint plans. It is expected that the first venue in Windhoek for launching Russian language courses and holding Russian cultural events will be the National Library of Namibia – this agreement was reached by the Center for Public Diplomacy with a division of the country’s Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. There are also plans to expand library cooperation in order to establish a Russian–Namibian scientific information center.

The visits to the republic’s universities also proved fruitful. With the University of Namibia and the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), potential joint programs in staff training, student mobility, and research activities were discussed. The University of Namibia, RUT, and the University of Biotechnology agreed to sign partnership memorandums. In addition, the university turned to the Center for Public Diplomacy with a request to help it find Russian partners to establish a Russian language department and develop educational programs in the fields of energy and medicine.

The forthcoming opening in Namibia of a partner Russian House was discussed in detail by the head of the Russian delegation, director of the Center for Public Diplomacy Natalia Krasovskaya, with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Namibia Dmitry Lobach, who expressed full support for all the Center’s projects. Experts are confident that the Russian House in Windhoek will become a base for implementing the planned Russian–Namibian humanitarian projects and will make an important contribution to strengthening cooperation and friendship between the two countries.