The leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan arrived in St. Petersburg Saturday to join Russian President Vladimir Putin for a three-day summit.
"In terms of vocational education, the concept of the triangle of knowledge will be discussed," Andrei Volkov said, "which means that not only research and education should be integrated, but the innovation sector as well."
Besides, he said, cooperation between private business and the state, particularly in the sphere of higher education, would be raised. The G8 leaders' attention will also be drawn to the need to make professors and students more mobile, as well as to the need to recognize qualifications in different countries.
Speaking about migrants, Volkov said: "For everyone, this is a sensitive, but very important issue. Its inclusion [on the agenda] is a diplomatic victory, meaning that everybody recognizes the importance of the migrant issue in the educational context."
Volkov, who is also a Russian deputy education minister, said the G8 leaders would undertake commitments to work out a coordinated policy regarding migrants.
"There should be special educational programs in the fields of language, culture, [and] professions allowing migrants to become full members of the communities that receive them," the deputy minister said.
He said the problem was particularly important given that labor markets are transnational.
Volkov said that, according to his information, Putin would raise the education issue at the G8 summit, and the issue itself was the second most important on the summit agenda, preceded by energy security.
