As part of the implementation by the Government of St. Petersburg of the state policy of the Russian Federation towards compatriots abroad, the XII Youth Forum "Russian Abroad", organized by the Committee on External Relations of St. Petersburg with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, was held in the northern capital.
This year, 79 compatriots from 45 countries of the world participated in the Forum: Abkhazia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Israel, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Canada, Cyprus, and Kyrgyzstan. , China, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, USA, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Estonia and South Ossetia . Our Republic at the Forum "Russian Abroad" was represented by the journalist of the newspaper "South Ossetia" Alena Dzhioty.
Meetings and answers to questions
The opening ceremony of the Forum "The Russian Abroad" was held in the multimedia historical park "Russia - My Story."
According to Alena Dzhioty, the Forum opened the hymn to the "Great City" by Reinhold Glier, which served as a reminder that it was in St. Petersburg that the concert balalaika was born. "The Forum participants were welcomed by public and political figures: First Deputy Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg Sergey Markov, member of the Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Vladimir Katenev, Head of the Department for Work with Compatriots for Foreign Ministry Alexei Roskoshny, Director of the St. Petersburg branch of the "Russian World" Foundation Oleg Mukovsky, Head of the Department of Support and Development of Non-Profit Organizations of the Committee on Youth Policy and Interaction with NGOs Andrei Yakovlev and press Secretary of the Moscow House of Compatriots Arkady Beinenson ", - she said.
On behalf of the government commission on the affairs of compatriots abroad, the participants of the ХІІ Youth Forum were greeted by Alexey Roskoshny. In his opinion, it is difficult to overestimate the contribution of young compatriots to the cause of maintaining Russia's image abroad in preserving its cultural traditions and its national identity. “And it’s young compatriots who are doing this job. We welcome the desire of young people to join the compatriots’ movement, to meet with youth organizations,” he said.
Vladimir Katenev told about the work being carried out by the Committee: “I think that what is happening in Russia is more accurate to highlight by your voices, your stories. You, being in other countries, can meet each other and share impressions. And we, for our part will help you. "
Oleg Mukovsky read out the greeting of Vyacheslav Nikonov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science, Chairman of the Board of the "Russian World" Foundation.
He has also introduced the Forum participants to the areas in which the Foundation is ready to assist them: this, in particular, participation in competitions, conducting advanced training courses in the Russian language, organizing summer camps, etc.
The importance of direct human communication in the modern world is growing more than ever. Moreover, it becomes the most valuable, luxury ... Our organizations do a lot to gather compatriots for communication. This allows you to get to know each other, get to know and develop cooperation," said Oleg Mukovsky
"The speakers of the meeting answered questions that worry compatriots abroad today. Among them, the most relevant were the topic of volunteering, solving the visa issue for members of compatriots' families, sending Russian teachers to conduct language courses in the US, supporting compatriots who do not speak Russian, the opportunity to study in Russian universities and vice versa, as well as many other things,” the South Ossetian participant of the Forum noted.
Meetings and modern methods of work
Alena Dzhiota has noted that the work of the Forum was divided into three sections: "Art History", "Media" and "Leadership".
As part of the direction of "Art History" compatriots studied the topic of contemporary art from the perspective of the consumer market with the participation of leading experts of "ArtsSquareGallery" (Art Gallery on Arts Square), The Stanislavsky Electro-Theater, the Youth Theater on the Fontanka, the "Alma Mater" Foundation, the Masters School and others. They had the opportunity to take part in a round table on the project activities of theaters, considered incentives for visiting exhibitions in new galleries, discussed the issue of funding in the field of art.
For the participants of the section "Leadership" leading business coaches and experts of St. Petersburg in the field of business communications and emotional intelligence organized classes and presented a brief excursion into modern approaches to leadership as a key skill of the 21st century.
Employees of the foreign Russian-language media learned about the trends and transformation of media projects in a constantly changing information environment, entered into a professional dialogue with representatives of the St. Petersburg Regional Information Center ITAR-TASS, the magazine "Panorama TV", the TV channel "78", the newspapers "Petersburg Diary" and "Komsomolskaya Pravda".
“I participated in the “Media” section. We had very interesting meetings with prominent Russian journalists who told about modern working methods, checking information, etc. In addition, we have seen the working conditions of our colleagues. Everywhere we were greeted them with special warmth, and During the discussions, we received detailed answers to all our questions. By the way, at the TASS editorial office, we were holding a newspaper dated May 7, 1946! It was perfectly preserved. We could see the layout of that time and found out what the journalists were writing about right after the war ", - noted the South Ossetian journalist.
Walking around St. Petersburg
“Every street, every building and monument tells about the history of Great Russia. You can simply walk around St. Petersburg and recreate for yourself the full picture of the formation and development of the Russian empire,” the Forum participant said enthusiastically.
The cultural program was no less rich. Young compatriots visited the State Hermitage, Piskarevsky cemetery, as well as the palaces of St. Petersburg – the Winter, Mikhailovsky, Yusupovsky, Stroganov, Novo-Mikhailovsky, Antioch Kantemir, Rumyantsevsky and many others.
"In addition, we witnessed the reconstruction dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade, and plunged into the real events of the Great Patriotic War ...
All these days we were accompanied by fine young people who did not for a moment leave us and politely endured all our whims. After all, each participant is an individual character, complex or not, with his own views and principles.
In short, the Forum was informative and eventful, both educationally and culturally. Thanks to the organizers, the Russian Embassy in South Ossetia for the opportunity to take part in the Forum "The Russian abroad,” concluded Alena Dzhioty.
