Council on Foreign and Defense Policy holds territorial seminar at Kazan Federal University
The three-day forum, supported by the Presidential Grant Foundation, is titled “Russian regions amidst an acute international crisis: resources of survival and development potential”.
The foreword was presented by Chair of the Department of International Relations Andrey Bolshakov, who then gave the floor to Vice-Rector for International Affairs Timirkhan Alishev.
The Vice-Rector said, “In the 1990s and 2000s, Kazan was established as an advance post of cooperation with Turkic and Arabic countries. We have many representative offices in Central Asia, where local peoples are very close to Tatarstan in religion and culture. We also have tried and proven cooperation formats.”
Dr Alishev mentioned that Kazan hosts 20 thousand international students – third biggest number in the nation after Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, two far bigger cities with many world-famous universities. Educational diplomacy helps build bridges between countries and regions. The synergy between education and the industrial sector is also of assistance in expanding Tatarstan’s foreign trade.
He then gave the word to Chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy (CFDP), Chief Editor of Russia in Global Politics, Research Director of Valdai International Discussion Club, Professor of the Higher School of Economics Fyodor Lukyanov.
Dr Lukyanov thanked the hosting side and said, “Kazan is among the cities where you really can do some pleasant and fruitful work. When we were choosing, we really found two points on the map where challenges and opportunities come together – Kaliningrad and Kazan.”
The speaker also mentioned a political scenario game scheduled for 19 April, “We started working on this genre several years ago. When we just began, we wanted to refresh formats and model different situations. In the end, you really cannot thnik of anything more captivating than real life. In some cases, I had been writing an outline and had been thnking to myself – well, that’s something fantastical – but then that happened in reality. Here, in this new reality, it’s not just a game, it’s a brainstorming event about possible outcomes.”
Among the events of the forum are an expert workshop on international relations, Lukyanov’s public lecture, and the brainstorming game. There are also some video conference meetings with Russian statesmen.