MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. Russia takes an interest in highly skilled specialists from Africa, but has no intention of encouraging any kind of "brain drain" from the area like the West does, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Oleg Ozerov, head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, said on Wednesday.
"When we take a look at the composition of the professionals trained by Western countries [in Africa], we see that there are catastrophically few specialists in natural science subjects, such as physics, chemistry and biology. And even if they are trained, these specialists tend to remain in the West, as they have been taught and left there - a so-called 'brain drain,'" he said at a roundtable discussion on media cooperation between Russia and Africa.
"In other words, it is another form of neocolonialism, or the exploitation of Africa that has been carried out throughout centuries through the slave trade and the pumping of resources, and now it has evolved into 'brain drain,'" he added.
"Russia has no intention of doing this, as it does not need to 'drain brains' from African countries. On the contrary, it is interested in having highly skilled specialists trained there," Ozerov said.
The ambassador pointed out that Africa needs mathematicians, physicists, engineers and biologists.
"In other words, those people who should boost Africa, transforming it into a new pole of growth. We are convinced that Africa has a vast future and potential, first and foremost human potential," the diplomat said.
The second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum is scheduled for July 27-28 in St. Petersburg. Sochi hosted the first event in October 2019, held under the motto 'For Peace, Security and Development.'