FIRST Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa yesterday met the Russian Federation’s Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, Mrs Natalya Bocharova, and Deputy Director of International Cooperation in the same ministry, Mr Sergey Terashkevich, for in-depth discussions on wide-ranging issues of mutual interest, where her host invited Zimbabwean learners for a special geological expedition in Russia.
So wide-ranging were the issues discussed that they touched
on agriculture, education, manufacturing, mining and technology, among many
others.
Dr Mnangagwa was accompanied by Mrs Rebecca Kaviya, the
director of legal services in the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education,
Innovation, Science and Technology Development.
Among projects discussed is the one in the science and
technology sector, which came as a result of the cooperation between Zimbabwe
National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) and ROSCOSMOS on the peaceful use
of space.
This gave birth to the signing of the Joint Research
Implementation Agreement between ZINGSA and South West University for the
development of ZimSat-2, which the Russians proposed to name Dr Auxillia
Mnangagwa SAT in special recognition of the philanthropic work that Amai
Mnangagwa is carrying out in Zimbabwe, which has improved the life of
vulnerable groups.
Implementation of this project in Zimbabwe will enable the
country to meet the challenges of socio-economic development using advanced
space services.
“Our geological university came up with the idea of
creating a centre of geological resources. It also came up with another idea of
creating a special time frame for schoolchildren, so we are now ready to
welcome the students from Zimbabwe who will take part in a special geological
expedition, which will take place in the south of Russia,” Mrs Bocharova said.
“This is done in order to allow the students to go through
some special orientation project and become the students of this university
specialising in geology.”
Mr Terashkevich added: “The students will be able to take
part in the research in geology. We will be very happy if your Angel of Hope
Foundation would also take part in this project by giving us students who are
under the foundation. The event will coincide with the Russia-Africa Summit
next year.”
The Russia-Africa Summit is a meeting for universities
under the Russia-Africa Network.
The network of universities is meant to foster
inter-university collaborations and promote education, scientific and technical
cooperation, as well as projects that are mutually beneficial to the two
countries.
Under this network of universities, Zimbabwe State
universities signed agreements under the Russia-Africa Network of Universities.
Mr Terashkevich told Dr Mnangagwa that he would become the
Zimbabwe-Russia ambassador in the said expedition.
The Russian Minister asked the First Lady if she had other
ideas that Zimbabwe and her country could develop together.
“Thank you very much for this visit to Russia. I see you
have a lot for Zimbabwe. Russia has been with us for a long time, since time
immemorial, and you have stood by us in all the difficult times that we have
come through,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa told her hosts that Zimbabwe’s economy was
agro-based. Sunday Mail
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