29 January 2021
January 29th, the Russian-French Commission on cooperation in the field of culture, education and youth exchanges held a remote meeting to discuss its future projects.
The Russian side was led by the Special Representative of the President of Russia for International Cultural Cooperation, member of the Coordination Council of the Trianon Dialogue M.Shvydkoy. The French delegation was headed by Michel Miraillet, Director General for Globalization, Culture, Education and International Development of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
The Ambassador of Russia to France A.Meshkov and the Ambassador of France to Russia P.Levy launched the event, expressing their greetings to participants. A.Meshkov underlined the special role Russian-French cultural ties play in the development of cooperation in the political and economic spheres. P.Levy spoke of a number of successful projects in the field of culture and education, which expanded in 2020 and strengthened the interaction of the two countries.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the development of bilateral cooperation through the ministries of science, education and culture of both countries and in the framework of the Trianon Dialogue. The members of the commission discussed the Russian-French events, which followed the last meeting of the commission in March 2018 as well as the program of educational and cultural cooperation planned for 2021.
The Deputy Head of Rospechat, member of the Coordination Council of the Trianon Dialogue V.Grigoriev gave a talk about plans for joint publications and reminded his colleagues of the need to continue such successful projects supported by the Trianon Dialogue such as "Dear Tomorrow!" and the seminar on linguistic policy, created by the Head of the French National Agency for the Promotion of the French Language, P.de Sinety.
The Director of the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Museums and Foreign Relations A.Voronko spoke about the promotion of cultural and artistic ties between Russia and France. I.Ganshin, the Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, described the main stages of past cooperation in the field of higher education and outlined new plans for the coming year. The Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Public Relations of the Ministry of Education S.Shatunov made different suggestions to further develop cooperation between schools and hold joint events to promote the Russian and French languages.
The Coordinator of the Trianon Dialogue, MGIMO Vice-Rector A.Malgin spoke about the Trianon Dialogue’s main projects and made some proposals on how to further expand cooperation.
The Trianon Dialogue has organized and co-organized a myriad of projects including the exhibition "Masterpieces of New Art — The Morozov Collection" at the Louis Vuitton Foundation; an exhibition-retrospective dedicated to the work of the famous Russian artist "Ilya Repin" of the State Tretyakov Gallery was presented in the Petit Palais in Paris; a summit of leaders of the museum community of the two countries and specialized international organizations called the Russian-French Museum Dialogue; a series of Russian-French musical meetings in Toulouse; a Festival of Russian Cinema in France; a festival of classical music "La Clé des Portes", which will be held for the first time in Russia.
A.Malgin emphasized the importance of cooperation in education and the involvement of young people in joint projects. The Trianon Dialogue will continue to provide full support to the Siberian-French Education Salon. Other projects for this year include the Russian-French Days of Mathematics, the cross-publication of school and university textbooks, a Russian-French youth economic forum, Days of History in Blois and joint projects of bilingual schools in Russia and France.
The suggestions made by the Russian members of the commission were supported and added to by a number of French colleagues, including the Director for Culture, Education, Research and Communications of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs M.Perrot, the Deputy Director of the Department for European and International Affairs of the Ministry of Culture F.Laurent, the Deputy Head of the Office for International and European Issues of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation of France S.Cruse, the leader of the cross-year of regional cooperation between Russia and France J.-Y.Hazoumé, the representative of the French Institute for International Relations M.Grimaud.
On the Russian side, the meeting has for participants the Deputy Director of the First European Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs A.Studentnikov, the Representative of Rossotrudnichestvo at the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Paris K.Volkov, the Director of the Russian Orthodox Center in Paris L.Kadyshev, the Counselor of the Russian Embassy in France K.Bykov, the Head of the French Division of the First European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry A.Kotlova.
