On 19-21 October 2023, the Institute of International Relations hosted the IV International Forum “Russia – Africa: Politics, Economy, History and Culture”, which included the VII Student Olympiad in Arabic language and Islamic culture and the Festival of Arab Culture.
The forum is annually held under the auspices of the Secretariat of the Russia –Africa Partnership Forum, headed by Ambassador at Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs O. Ozerov. The forum is annually attended by ambassadors of a number of leading African countries, heads of organizations engaged in African studies, scientists-Africanists from Russia, CIS countries, as well as from African and Arab countries, and representatives of Russian government authorities. Leading organizations and scholars involved in African studies and Russian-African cooperation were engaged in the forum’s work: The Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow State University, the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, MAE (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Foreign Ministry and others.
The forum was opened by Dmitry Tayursky, first vice-rector and vice-rector for academic affairs of Kazan federal University. The representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Kazan, Radik Vakhitov, and Chief Specialist of the External Communications Service of the RT TV Channel, Media Relations Advisor of the Russia – Islamic World Strategic Vision Group, Anna Belikova, welcomed the participants of the event. Eleonora Lvova, professor of the Department of African Studies at the Institute of Asian and African Countries of Lomonosov Moscow State University, delivered a plenary report on “History of Russian-African Encounters and Relations: the XIV-XX Centuries”.
The forum discussed a wide range of issues related to the development of relations between Russia and the countries of the African continent. Among the topics the sections there was African linguistics, the study of African cultures, mutual ties between Russia and Africa in history and modernity, African countries in the modern system of international relations, international migration in Africa, the economy of African countries, the economy of African countries in the context of globalization, the Arab world and Africa, and others. In addition, the school section “Language and Culture in a Polylingual and Polyconfessional Environment” was traditionally organized, which was attended by over 25 schoolchildren of the Republic of Tatarstan with their scientific supervisors – school teachers.
The forum also included an open lecture by the former Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ramazan Abdulatipov, entitled “The Islamic Vector in Russia’s Foreign Policy”.
The VII Student Olympiad in Arabic Language and Islamic Culture was conducted as part of the forum. The Olympiad is aimed at bringing together the best students from leading universities of the Russian Federation and the Near Abroad countries – centres of Arabic studies – who competed in various competitive tests in the following categories: consecutive, written and simultaneous translation competition, oral speech competition, poetry competition (in Arabic and Persian languages) and Quranic language comprehension competition.
The Festival of Arab Culture was a kind of crowning event, which aims to instill in Russian students love for the culture of Arab countries.
These activities are intended to strengthen cooperation between the Russian Federation and countries of Africa and the Arab East, which is highly relevant at present. This will help to promote the Russian Federations’ “soft power” in these countries.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"