Mali wants to "benefit from the Russian experience" in the field of education, Anna Traore, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Management in Bamako, told Sputnik Africa.
Partnerships in the field of education can allow the two countries to work on the basis of "win-win cooperation," she added. According to her, this process may even go beyond education and extend to the economy, security and other areas.
"My country, Mali, has been cooperating with Russia since 1962. We have at least 10,000 Malian cadres trained by the Soviet Union. Without the Russians trying to take advantage of this training," she noted.
The rector highlighted that Russia helped Mali to "decolonize" the minds of its people.
"We had to do everything to cut this cord between us and the colonizer. And Russia helped them in this direction to enable us to get out of it," Traore underlined.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently stated that Russia will continue to work with African nations in the field of education, with the goal of increasing the number of African students enrolled in Russian universities.
Speaking about propaganda in the Western media, she emphasized that it "has tarnished the names of both our countries and Russia."
"They also spread the idea that we collaborated with the West and were in a situation of master-slave relations," the rector stressed.
This sows doubt in people's minds, and they fear that this "unbalanced relationship" could be repeated with Russia, she continued.
"It's up to all of us to change this image," the academic noted.