MGIMO Celebrates ASEAN Week

MGIMO Celebrates ASEAN Week

12 December 2017

December 4th to 8th, MGIMO held ASEAN Week, which was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Association. The event was jointly organized by the University’s Southeast Asian Club and the ASEAN Center.

The week began with the opening of the exhibition «From Southeast Asia with Love» displaying the results of a student photography contest. Also on December 4th, a scientific conference on «ASEAN’s 50th: Problems and Development Prospects » took place. The Director of the ASEAN Center at MGIMO Victor Sumsky welcomed the participants and presentations were made by a number of prominent experts from MGIMO and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Youth sections during the second part of the Conference allowed students to discuss key issues including the problems of regional integration in South-East Asia, the opportunities for Russian business in the region and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

December 5th, MGIMO organized a screening of the film «Hanyut», an adventure drama directed by Haji Saari, based on the novel «Almayer’s Folly», by British author Joseph Conrad. The audience discussed the historical events depicted in the film and the life of the Director.

December 6th, a business game simulating an ASEAN Defense Ministers meeting with its Dialogue Partners took place. The theme of the case was maritime security in the South China Sea. Upon completion, the participants reviewed the results of their work and analyzed the best strategies and negotiation techniques.

December 7th, MGIMO welcomed the Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines, Carlos Sorreta, who gave a talk on the results of the Philippine chairmanship of ASEAN and mulled over the further prospects for the development of the Association. The lecture was followed by the screening of the Filipino film «Sonata» directed by Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes.

The last event of ASEAN week, December 8th, was a lecture on global threats to biological security, delivered by the Head of the Department of Scientific Support for Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare of the Population and International Activities at Rospotrebnadzor, Vyacheslav Smolensky.

— See the MGIMO web-site for more photos and russian version