On January 28th, 2016, NUST MISIS held the round-table “Development of cooperation in the fields of mining, education and science between Russia and the Latin American countries”. The leading experts discussed greater interaction between the countries in education, science, and the metallurgical and mining industries.
The round-table, held as part of the International Scientific Symposium "Miner’s Week-2016"—which is the largest annual international mining forum in Russia—brought together ambassadors, chargés d’affaires and minister-counsellors from Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Panama, Colombia and El Salvador.
The NUST MISIS Mining Institute Director Alexander Myaskov suggested applying to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a quota allocation of grants aimed at training foreign specialists, upon the request of the Latin American countries, which traditionally have been interested in their students studying in leading Russian universities. Such a development would help to engender more frequent and more prominent interaction between Russia and Latin America.
Also suggested for the development of bilateral cooperation between the regions was the founding of a research and education center on the NUST MISIS bases. The new center’s main purposes would be the development of the mining industry as well as the university’s other areas of specialization.
“NUST MISIS and the universities of the Latin American countries have long-standing collaborations, and today we aim to develop and strengthen our relationship. If we create the right plan of action, the next generation will have great opportunities for research, training, and employment. The academic mobility of students and teachers contributes to the consolidation of the international scientific and educational community, and the attempts to best master those fields”, said Alevtina Chernikova, Rector of NUST MISIS.
“If Latin American students are trained at NUST MISIS or other leading Russian universities, they will want to continue working with Russian technologies after returning home. We will train specialists who know the Russian language and understand the Russian mentality. Factors like these lead to the creation of a united world”, noted Tatiana Mashkova, General Director of NC SESLA.
Alexandr Khokholikov, Deputy Director of the Latin American Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed the round-table’s guests that commodity circulation between Russia and Latin American—including the Caribbean—ranges from 16 to 18 billion dollars annually, but certainly could be increased with more cooperation in high-tech fields—particularly the fields of energy, nuclear-power engineering, space exploration, and Nano- & Bio-technologies. He added that for 2015 & 2016 Russia has allocated 400 grants and scholarships to Latin American and Caribbean nations.
The eventful forum concluded with the decision to create the proposed Research & Education Center at NUST MISIS. The plans are now in place to develop further interaction between Russia and Latin America as work begins to smooth out contractual details of informational and organizational cooperation between NUST MISIS and the Latin American embassies.
