Russian-Norwegian Education Programme Enters Final Stage

Murmansk, the Kola peninsula in northwest of Russia, has launched the third, final, stage of a Russian-Norwegian programme of teaching the principles of management in market economy to Russian state employees and heads of enterprises. Arriving in the Kola peninsula, Norwegian officials have started to enlist candidates for the next year. The programme known as The Presidential Initiative was established in 1997 when the first president of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, addressed foreign governments with a proposal to organise a system of advanced training for Russian managers. Norway joined the Presidential Initiative in 2000. Over the two years some 40 managers from Russia, mainly those from its northwestern region, have undergone advanced training in Norway. In the course of the third, final, year of the programme another 30 Russians will learn Norwegian methods of management in theory and in practice. The course includes seminars in Murmansk and Oslo and at Norwegian enterprises and local government bodies.