More and more countries on the African continent are interested in cooperation within the BRICS. The only African country in the Union was South Africa recently, but Egypt and Ethiopia joined the list in January 2024 turning BRICS into BRICS+. Africa plays an important role in BRICS’s global strategy, and its engagement in the association continues to gain momentum. It is now imperative to define the configuration of future relations between BRICS and Africa and to present a strategic view on how BRICS-Africa relations should develop in the long term. One of the key topics of cooperation is the development of energy sector labour market. Official delegations from South Africa, Russia, the UAE, Brazil, China and Egypt met to exchange ideas within the international seminar on human resource development.
The event took place in Obninsk, the first science city in Russia and the place, where national nuclear power was discovered in 1954. The seminar was organised with the support of the Russian Ministry of Energy and Rosatom. “It is obvious that the BRICS countries have different energy balances and different access levels to energy resources. At this point, the staff training needs for the energy industry are different in each country. At the same time, the BRICS countries have many similar goals and difficulties in the labour market development and staff training areas, and this opens up the potential of our cooperation extension. I am confident that together we can achieve significant success in any direction,” Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Anastasia Bondarenko noted. Project Manager of the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI) Nelisiwe Nhlapo stated that the BRICS countries are world leaders in the workers quantity in all energy sectors. They are 50% of all employees in the renewable energy sector (RES) and 80% of employees in the coal sector.
At the same time, the main challenges that the BRICS countries face today are the aging of working staff in the traditional energy sector, difficulties in transferring experience to the younger generation, the need to develop specialised skills among young people. It is of great significance to unite countries in the scientific research, standardising qualifications, and disseminating exchange programmes for students and teachers, creating mutual programmes in energy education. BRICS delegations also presented their national strategies for skills development in the energy sector. The South African delegation dwelled on the experience of the sectoral education system: more than 20 educational institutions of various industrial sectors have been created in the country in order to develop specific hard and soft skills. The UAE delegation outlined the main areas of education that are in demand in the context of the energy transition. This includes expertise in renewable energy, energy efficiency, engineering and design, digital skills, project management, regulatory frameworks, research and development, public education, and specialised technical skills.
The Egyptian delegation presented the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources experience programmes for mid-level and senior managers in the energy sector, a leadership development programme and an energy efficiency training programme. Gulnara Bikkulova, Deputy General Director of the International Initiatives and Partnerships Block of the Rosatom Corporate Academy, shared the experience of the Russian nuclear industry. She gave a snapshot of the Russian energy sector with 2.6 million working staff. The average age of employees is 42 years, women account for 26% of total personnel. Rosatom is doing a lot of work within the human resources development ecosystem to improve these indicators. Inter alia, company involves the youth into the industry by cooperating with 250 Rosatom schools and 21 partner universities. The special attention is paid to issues of gender balance: The Corporate Academy has launched the Invisible Force women’s leadership programme and is assisting schools in teaching technical disciplines to female students. BRICS cooperation provides tangible benefits for Africa in the fields of research and innovation, energy, health, and education cooperation. As Africa moves towards a low-carbon development path that is inclusive and sustainable, BRICS membership will give the country access to policy and technical expertise of partner economies to accelerate Africa’s industrialisation and meet Fourth Industrial Revolution aspirations.
