Russia reinforces its influence in Syria, signs agreements in many fields
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Ministries of Education of Syrian and Russian governments signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of general, vocational, and supplementary secondary education on Wednesday.
Since its military intervention in Syria in 2015, Russia has sought to strengthen its cultural influence in the field of education, as the Russian language was introduced into the Syrian school curriculum.
Moscow announced last January its intention to open a Russian university in the Syrian capital Damascus, to be a branch of Moscow State University.
The Syrian Minister of Education, Darem Tabbah, said during a statement to reporters after the signing of the agreement that the two sides will work to develop direct communication between the professional educational institutes in the two countries.
Dmitry Glushko, Deputy General Director of the Young Professionals Union, indicated during a press conference that his country intends to build new schools and rehabilitate the destroyed ones in Syria.
“There are about 50,000 students learning the Russian language, but there are only 200 teachers for this language throughout Syria,” he added.
Since the Russian military intervention in Syria, the number of schools teaching the Russian language has exceeded 170, making it the third most taught foreign language after English and French.
The two parties worked to send teachers to Moscow to learn to teach the Russian language, as their number was estimated at 24,000 students.
The Syrian Ministry of Public Works and Housing signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Construction and Housing Services in Russia on Wednesday regarding cooperation in infrastructure development and residential construction.
Russia has also announced the allocation of more than one billion dollars for the reconstruction of electrical networks, industries, and other humanitarian projects in Syria, according to the head of the Russian-Syrian Coordination Center for the Return of Refugees, Mikhail Mezentsev.
Mezentsev indicated that the representatives of Russia and Syria would sign, on the sidelines of the conference on returning refugees held in Damascus, eight memoranda of cooperation between the two sides in the fields of energy, customs unions, and educational activities.
This comes during the race to tighten Russia’s hegemony over the energy and electricity sector in Syria.
Former Electricity Minister Zuhair Kharboutli signed contracts with Russian Energy Minister Alexander Valentinovich Novak as part of an agreement for cooperation in the field of electric energy in 2018.
“These projects fall under the heading of developing the electrical system, meaning that the Aleppo thermal station will be reconstructed and rehabilitated, and a generating station will be installed in Deir ez-Zor,” Kharboutli said.
These agreements fall within the framework of the Syrian-Russian Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific, and Technical Cooperation.
The origin of these agreements between the two parties goes back to previous statements by Syrian and Russian officials in December 2017.
At the time, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin said after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad that “Russia is the only country that will play a role in rebuilding the Syrian energy facilities.”