Head of Rossotrudnichestvo Evgeny Primakov
The head of Rossotrudnichestvo Evgeny Primakov became a guest of the open study of KP on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa forum. He talked about how African countries manage to open “Russian Houses”, how to change the education system of African students in our universities, and also talked about the development of the Compatriot Electronic Card.
– What is the position of Russian houses in Africa? How much demand is there for your work?
– Much demand. I wish there were more “Russian Houses”, science and culture centers. But now we are officially present only in 8 countries on the African continent.
These are Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa and Congo. Clubs, courses, seminars, exhibitions and film screenings are held in the Russian Houses. Also, as part of the work of cultural centers, students are selected to study in the Russian Federation in accordance with government quotas. Every year, 4,500 people come from Africa to Russian universities to study.
– Where is the opening of new “Russian Houses” planned?
– There are negotiations in various countries. It should be remembered here that Rossotrudnichestvo is a federal executive body, and we can open the House of Russia only if we have an official intergovernmental agreement. I am often asked the question: why are you not in such and such a country? Why is there no cultural center in the Baltics, for example? Because it is very difficult for me to imagine a situation where the Latvian government signs an agreement with the Russian government on a cultural center. In the case of African countries, we also have to deal with bureaucratic barriers. Therefore, we came up with the following move: we opened the so-called non-governmental or non-state “Russian Houses”. Any local NPO, for example, a community of graduates of our universities or a community of compatriots, some local university, foundation, etc., can sign an agreement with Rossotrudnichestvo and continue to work according to local legislation. The structure opened in this way will be considered by us as the “Russian House”, and we will find ways to support it. It won’t always be finance, again because of bureaucracy. But we will be able to include these organizations in exchange programs, extend the work of our official houses to them. According to this scheme, we have signed an agreement with Sudan, for example. There, a local organization opened the Russia House, and it is already working: there were film screenings, lectures on our national flag were given, the essence of current Russian-Ukrainian events was explained to the Sudanese… There are similar agreements with Mali and Mali and Sierra Leone, there are also non-state “Russian houses”.
– We see the pressure on African leaders. Many in the West did not want them to come to the Forum. How does this epidemic of Russophobia in the world affect the work of Rossotrudnichestvo?
– It is very difficult to work. All Russian cultural centers or cultural departments of embassies in Europe are under pressure. Their accounts were blocked, our employees who were engaged in cultural promotion were sent somewhere. As a result, Russian cultural centers closed in Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania is next in line. This does not happen in Africa. At the same time, we observe an interesting pattern. The more the mainstream Western media indoctrinates the local population, demonizing Russia, the more people want to learn Russian. We are probably seeing a revival of interest in the Russian language for the first time in many years.
– We really have thousands of students from African countries. But it is often heard that the education they received from us is not easy to apply in their homeland. As a result, people do not really understand how, for example, to do business, how to strengthen trade and economic ties between Russia and Africa. Can this problem be fixed?
– The admission system to Russian universities is now set up in such a way that the applicant himself chooses a specialization. The African side may need a lot more bridge engineers at this very moment, and they all want to study medicine. I would like there to be a kind of social professional order. In addition, the interest of our companies. For example, Rosatom operates in Africa, which not only builds reactors, but also opens research centers and medical centers for nuclear technologies. If our companies form this “order” and students receive the necessary professions, they will definitely be in demand at home. And that would be correct.
– For many years there have been discussions about the creation of what can be conditionally called a “Russian map”, by analogy with a “Polish map”, for example. The governor of the Kaliningrad region, Anton Alikhanov, has already spoken about this. I understand that this is not exactly his diocese …
– But why? Rossotrudnichestvo is responsible for this project. We are developing an electronic card of a compatriot. This is a digital application that acts as an identity. Our compatriot goes through several levels of authentication, starting with an email address and ending with an electronic digital signature, and gains access to public services, resettlement programs, repatriation, and possibly visa resolution. We have signed an agreement with the promoter company. There is already a model in which we “sew” certain services. In other words, the project has moved to the practical level, but the implementation will take longer than we expected, since you have to go through a whole treadmill of various approvals. However, the path will be dominated by the andante.
