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Business venues co-organized by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly were presented as part of the V International Municipal BRICS+ Forum in St. Petersburg.
The panel discussion “Cultural practices of rural communities of the BRICS+ countries” brought together representatives from Russia, India, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, China, as well as Arab and African countries.
The moderator of the discussion - First Deputy Secretary General - Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Svetlana Smirnova, opening the discussion, noted that communication within the panel session is intended to promote productive dialogue and partnership between municipal communities of the BRICS+ countries, studying the unique experience of implementing cultural practices in the countryside. A joint search for new solutions, strengthening and developing mutual contacts will help create a general atmosphere of trust and harmony between the peoples of the BRICS+ countries and the whole world.
“The theme we are discussing today is extremely important for strengthening international communications of the BRICS+ countries. Therefore, special thanks to partners from India, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, who are with us online today,” said Svetlana Konstantinovna, “Within the International Municipal Forum the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly is represented at several platforms, but we brought questions to this panel session related to the study of the unique experience of implementing cultural practices in the countryside.”
In 2023 - 2024 the International Union of Non-Governmental Organizations "Eurasian Peoples' Assembly" implements the project "Heritage of Eurasia: Rural Communities" with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives. It is a continuation of the project "Heritage of Eurasia: Cultural Practices of Rural Areas", supported by the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives in 2021.
The project is aimed at scaling the cultural practices of rural areas of the Eurasian space, expanding the potential of partnerships of local communities in the preservation and development of cultural heritage.
The project includes activities to involve more than 100 rural areas from the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Russian Federation in the development of cultural practices of local communities. It is planned to train more than 300 activists and village leaders in modern social practices. Conducting the forum and full-time internship will allow the formation of network initiatives in cultural heritage preservation in the Eurasian space.
“The creation of cultural projects is one of the most important ways to develop small territories, which allows us to preserve and popularize their unique history and cultural heritage. Projects in culture play a key role in the formation of the local identity of villages and their residents: they preserve and transmit cultural traditions, influence the modern cultural process and shape the cultural environment considering local realities, demands and interests of local residents. It is important to identify cultural practices, improve the competence of those activists and organizational leaders who daily implement these initiatives and thereby make a valuable contribution to the development and preservation of the culture and history of their people,” - said Svetlana Smirnova.
The competition within the project “Heritage of Eurasia: Rural Communities” consists of several stages. The first stage has already been announced by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly: from October 1, 2023 to January 15, 2024, applications for participation in the competition are being collected. This stage is held in absentia. The application is sent to the project email: heritage@eurasia-assembly.org. More details: http://eurasia-assembly.org/ru/nasledie-evrazii-kulturnye-praktiki-selsk...
Following the project, it is planned to release an interactive online exhibition of the best cultural practices of rural areas of the Eurasian space.
The speakers of the panel discussion “Cultural practices of rural communities of BRICS+ countries” were:
Yulia Ogloblina – Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, leader of the Russian Union of Rural Youth (Russia);
Vladimir Lishchuk – member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, member of the committee for the development of the agro-industrial complex of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation (Russia);
Sameep Shastri – Vice President of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry, President of Young Leaders of the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry (India);
Oleg Vikhman - Ph.D., Director of the Siberian Research Institute of Automation and Control, Secretary General of the International Council of Russian Germans "Renaissance", Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Migration Policy of the socio-political newspaper "President" (Russia);
Nour Nada – Professor at Cairo University, Head of the Representative Office of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly in Egypt, former Minister of Labor (Egypt);
Alexander Rabinovich – President of the World Restaurant Sports Federation (Russia/Israel);
Dinara Utebaeva – Chairman of the Public Foundation “Civil Alliance of the Kostanay Region “GrIn”, member of the Coordination Council for Interaction with NGOs under the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, deputy of the regional maslikhat, member of the Public Council of the Kostanay Region (Kazakhstan);
Yuri Palamarchuk - head of the municipal formation Head of the Shcheglovskoye Rural Settlement (Russia);
Ramazon Egamov – researcher at the State Museum of History and Culture of Navoi Region (Uzbekistan);
Mohammad Akil – founder and chairman of the Public Organization “International Foundation for Enhancing Education and Skills among Youth” (IYES Foundation), deputy head of the Project Office for International Youth Cooperation “Russia-BRICS” (India);
Angela Skripkarash – Chairman of the Agribusiness Association, General Director of the Worthy Memory Charitable Foundation, Director of the consulting agency AIS EVENT (Russia);
Anastasia Shishkina - co-chair of the Coordination Council of the Eurasian Youth Assembly (Russia).
A number of cultural practices were proposed for the development of rural areas: a unified digital platform for information exchange, competitions in equestrian sports, restaurant sports, twinning of territories, development of rural tourism and others. Each cultural practice presented in the speakers’ presentations aroused keen interest among the site participants.
The moderator also emphasized: “Today’s panel session is aimed at jointly searching for new solutions in the cultural life of rural communities, strengthening and developing mutual contacts to create a general atmosphere of trust and harmony between the peoples of the BRICS+ countries and the whole world. Young people play a special role in this process, since the future belongs to them. These are potential personnel, entrepreneurs, investors and participants in public life. They form innovative potential and ensure economic growth of the country. But the most important thing is that they absorb and carry on, implement the cultural codes and traditions of their people.”
The discussion participants noted that information exchange between young people of the BRICS+ countries is very important. First Deputy Secretary General - Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Svetlana Smirnova at the end of the panel session voiced the idea of creating the Eurasian Rural Youth Union. The idea was supported by all participants in the panel session.
On the same day at the V International Municipal BRICS+ Forum participants in the strategic session, which was also co-organized by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly discussed the question of how young people see the image of the future of BRICS+.
After welcoming words from the experts, the young participants of the strategic session were divided into groups according activity areas. Here, in the process of working in groups, young people developed specific proposals for shaping their future. The topics of the platforms were: adaptation tools for foreign students, as part of public diplomacy; media, communications and creating a truthful image of BRICS+; non-obvious vectors of BRICS+ development from the Arctic to digital platforms.
As noted at the session, BRICS+ is a unique promising platform for multidisciplinary interaction. In connection with the expansion of the geography of the BRICS+ countries, it is necessary to solve large-scale tasks, in the implementation of which young people, who make up the majority of the population in the BRICS+ countries, play an important role.
Following the strategic session, an image of the future of the BRICS+ countries through the eyes of young people will be formed, proposals will be prepared for the implementation of joint youth projects.
The third venue, organized by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly and the SCO Center for Public Diplomacy in Russia, was the session “Municipal Economic Cooperation in the BRICS Space. Prospects and Challenges” as part of the International Intermunicipal Forum BRICS+.
The session participants:
Mikhail Solomentsev, First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Crimea to the President of the Russian Federation;
Olga Guseva, Minister of International and Interregional Relations of the Nizhny Novgorod Region;
Lyudmila Berg, Deputy Minister of International and Foreign Economic Relations of the Sverdlovsk Region;
Dilbar Sadykova, Chairman of the Academy of Youth Diplomacy of Tatarstan;
Igor Fomin, General Director of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization “International Development Organization BRICS”;
Olga Shtemberg, Chairman of the Committee for Supporting Entrepreneurship in the Sphere of a New Quality of Life and Sustainable Development of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, director and founder of the Life Foundation;
Elena Churina, Director for Scientific and Educational Programs of the Foundation for Support of Education, Science and Culture “Universities of St. Petersburg”, member of the scientific expert council of the working group of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation;
Yuri Palamarchuk, Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly;
Svetlana Smirnova, First Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly;
Stanislav Korolev, Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly, Director of the SCO National Center for Public Diplomacy in Russia.
Based on the results of the work, the session was recognized as one of the significant platforms of the Forum.
The Municipal BRICS+ Forum was held in St. Petersburg with the support of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rossotrudnichestvo and the Government of St. Petersburg. Delegates from 63 countries took part in it.
The theme of the anniversary 5th Forum is “At the intersection of the past and the future: global transformation.” The business program included 120 events, including expert sessions and sections, plenary sessions, business conferences and panel discussions, master classes, presentations of investment projects and round tables.