The Sputnik International News Agency and Radio held a roundtable, Russia – Africa: Prospects for Economic Cooperation.
Speaking about fostering expert and analytical personnel’s competencies in Russian-African cooperation, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies Alexei Maslov announced that “for the first time at least four Moscow schools will teach Swahili and Amharic for children starting September 2023 as part of the new special program.” Maslov added that, “we are also exploring the possibility of Moscow schoolchildren studying Yoruba. An abrupt turn to Africa requires a completely different type of specialists who could work directly with the economy and would realize that Africa is not just one big continent, but in fact, a patchwork of diverse national, religious and linguistic traditions”.