On 08.06.2016,
in Bratislava Business Center Aircraft was held the first meeting of
brother-cities and partner regions of Russia and Slovakia. This meeting was
held in the format of the International Conference.
The conference was initiated by International Association "Brother Cities" and the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly from the Russian side and the association of cities and towns of the Slovak Republic from the Slovak side with the active support of the Russian Embassy in the Slovak Republic. Russian Center in Bratislava, the fund "Russian World" and the European Fund for Slavic Literature and Culture also were among the co-organizers of the event.
The Conference was opened by greetings of the Ambassador of Russian Federation in Slovakia A.L. Fedotov. The conference was attended by delegation of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation, headed by V.S. Timchenko, who also greeted the participants. Brief presentations were made by the Chairman of the Association of towns and villages of Slovakia Michal Sykora, chairman of the Trnava self-governing Territory Tibor Mikus, chairman of the National Council of the SR on Education, Youth and Sports Lubomir Petrak, executive vice president of the International Association "Brother Cities" S.V. Paramonov, Mayor of the city of Volgograd, the vice-president of the International "Brother Cities" association A.V. Kosolapov, CEO of the Section for Foreign Economic Policy and European Affairs, Ministry of Economy of SR Ivan Lancharich and other officials.
The
composition of the participants and speakers was on an extremely high level of
competence and quality of the performances. Topics of performances had a really
actual and important character.
The participants listened with great interest to the presentation of regions. There were presented opportunities and investment potential of Russian regions - Leningrad and Kirov regions, Khanty-Mansiysk, Krasnoyarsk and Efremov. The Slovak side presented a presentation of Trnava region.
In their speeches, participants touched not only economic partnership issues, but the cooperation in the fields of culture, sports and tourism. The conference was attended by representatives of the Slovak Agency of Trade and Investment, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation in Austria, the Trade Representation of Russia in Slovakia, the Department of Tourism and Regional Policy of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, Ministry of Slovak Culture, the Slovak Tourism Agency, Bratislava Tourism Organization, representatives of the Universities - Higher school of Economics and management in public Administration, Moscow state regional University.
Almost all of the reports were accompanied by handout materials, graphics and informational videos on the screen. Simultaneous translation of all presentations was organized
Management of
the European Foundation of Slavic Literature and Culture had a number of
negotiations regarding cultural cooperation with the delegates of Council of
the Federation of Russia, representatives of the Moscow, Leningrad, Kirov and
Volgograd regions, the International Association of Towns, Moscow State
Regional University, and others.
Russian Center and the European Fund of Slavic Literature and Culture had actively participated in the preparation of the conference and in the dissemination of the information about it. The delegation of the Council of the Federation, representatives of the Volgograd and Kirov regions, Trnava Region and the Association of Towns and Slovak villages visited Russian Center, where they were familiarized with the unique capabilities of the center, library and movies of the Fund, with an exhibition of books: "Pushkin - the sun of Russian poetry", devoted to the Day of the Russian Language and the birthday of A.S. Pushkin.
The conference was widely covered by the Slovak media. The main news channel TA3 prepared a detailed report about the conference and presented interviews with key participants of the event.
Russian service of Slovak Radio recorded actual interviews with Russian and Slovak participants. The conference was attended by news agencies TASR and SITA's, publishing companies, journalists, photo and TV reporters.
In the
concluding speeches sounded positive assessments of passing conference, its
importance in the achievement of partnership and cooperation, many participants
have expressed the intention of holding such meetings in the future on a
regular basis.
After the conference, the Russian Embassy held a reception for all participants.