On July 3, 2022 within the framework of the International People’s Diplomacy Forum, an international panel session “The Role of Scientific Diplomacy in Maintaining Sustainable Development” was held, organized by the Department of Sustainable Development, the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly.
The panel sessions were moderated by Prof. Yulia Petrova, Deputy Secretary General and Dr. Yasser Allaham, Chairman of the Committee on International Affairs of the Union of Arab Graduates of Soviet and Russian Universities.
The panel was attended by prominent public figures, representatives of international organizations, scientific, financial and business structures from the Middle East and North Africa, Europe and Asia. Tatyana Bratarchuk, Dean of the FinU Preparatory Faculty took part in the event.
During the panel session, the main aspects of the current public interaction level in the field of science and education, its special importance to maintain sustainable development, as well as promising areas of cross-country integration were discussed.
A wide range of issues made it possible to discuss not only general trends, but also individual needs of the continent’s regions in a meaningful way. Thus, colleagues from the MENA countries Senator, ex-Minister of Labor of Jordan Mr. Katamine M.A. Nydal, Professor at Cairo University, financial consultant for state and commercial structures of Egypt, ex-Minister of Labor of Egypt Mr. Nour Nada and Professor of Strategic Management at Brunel University (London), international expert in the field of economics Mr. Abraham Althonyan focused on the need to create international scientific and technical hubs. During the discussion, a number of specific solutions were proposed to launch hubs in the near future.
Many speakers noted that in modern realities it is necessary to develop scientific diplomacy on the basis of trusting relations, international cooperation in the field of education and culture to build constructive interaction. At the same time, in modern conditions of science and education transformation, it is necessary to carefully use the previous successful experience. In this regard, the Professor Olga Oleinikova, Head of the National Erasmus Office in Russia, noted the high level and potential of Russian universities’ international experience, which should be creatively rethought and adjusted into new integration mechanisms. This topic was supported by Tatiana Bratarchuk, Dean of the FinU Preparatory Faculty for International Students, who has been working for many years in the field of exporting Russian education.
In support of this project, the Middle Eastern colleagues also made proposals to open Representative Offices of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly in the MENA countries, which, among other issues, will provide institutional organizational and advisory support for international scientific and technical cooperation.
In turn, the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, responding to a request to expand cooperation, agreed to hold the Days of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly in this region in 2022-2023. These activities will create sustainable consortia of stakeholders and will contribute to the project effective implementation.
In his speech Ruslan Lesovik, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of BSTU named after V.G. Shukhov noted that strengthening international ties and developing comprehensive cooperation with foreign universities and research centers are among the university’s priorities and that by joining forces with the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, scientific culture and public diplomacy will reach a new level of interaction.
Olga Panina, Head of the FinU Department of State and Municipal Management made a speech on the partnership creation of state and non-state structures to make balanced and responsible decisions in the field of achieving sustainable development. In the international project implementation of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly to create a Eurasian university ranking Olga Subanova, Head of the TOLMUCH project, General Director of Topatet Consulting LLC, dedicated her speech to development of new information promotion forms while maintaining continuity and careful attitude to previously achieved results.
In her closing speech, Alexandra Ochirova, Co-Chairman of the General Council of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly, member of the State Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, Goodwill and associations, a prominent representative of which is the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly. The implementation of this format effectively contributes to building contacts and organizing joint events on a wide range of issues between partner countries and interested parties.Ambassador of UNESCO (Russia) summed up the session and formulated the main idea of implementing mechanisms for the scientific diplomacy development via dialogue platforms of reputable public unions
