Ambassador of Afghanistan to Russia Meets with MGIMO Rector

Ambassador of Afghanistan to Russia Meets with MGIMO Rector

28 February 2020

February 28th, MGIMO Rector A.Torkunov welcomed to the University the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Russia Latif Bahand.

During the meeting, the Rector spoke about how the Pashto and Dari languages are taught at the University and described the activities of the Department of Indo-Iranian and African Languages and the Indo-Iranian Club. The Rector also noted that since 1984, 115 Afghan citizens have graduated from MGIMO’s different programs and presented to the guest the University’s Tashkent branch, which could also be of interest to Afghan applicants.

The Ambassador made some propositions regarding the organization of joint events at MGIMO in the near future, suggesting that the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, could come to lecture at MGIMO during his official visit to Russia this year. The guest also noted that a photo exhibition dedicated to modern Afghanistan could be set up and a round table on the peace process in Afghanistan could be organized with the participation of experts from Russia, Afghanistan and other interested countries.

L.Bahand extended this thanks to the University for the excellent training of Afghan students and noted that some MGIMO graduates hold high positions in the presidential administration and the Afghan Foreign Ministry.

After the meeting, the sides decided to further expand their cooperation in educational, cultural and research projects. The Afghan side also expressed some interest in Afghan experts enrolling in PhD programs at the University and asked for the chance to view some of the topics already studied by Afghan MGIMO graduates.

The meeting was attended by the Aide on Cultural and Educational Issues of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Russia Shah Sultan Akifi, the Head of the International Office E.Andreev and the Leading Researcher at the Center for East Asian and Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Ambassador M.Konarovsky.

— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version