Conference co-organized by KFU in Brazil
The opening ceremony of the first conference on developing cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Federative Republic of Brazil on the BRICS platform took place in Belo Horizonte.
It is organized by Kazan Federal University, the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, and the Russian-Latin American Observatory (RusLat).
The opening ceremony was attended by Timirkhan Alishev, Vice-Rector for International Affairs, and Liliya Ilikova, Associate Professor of the Department of Regional Studies and Digital Humanities and supervisor of the master’s program BRICS Development Strategies. Participants received a greeting from Ilsur Metshin, Honorary Chairman of the BRICS+ Association of Cities and Municipalities and Mayor of Kazan.
In his speech, Timirkhan Alishev noted, “In the context of the transformation of the global system of international relations, BRICS is becoming an increasingly significant factor in world politics and economics. Russia and Brazil, as key participants in this association, play an important role in shaping the agenda of multilateral cooperation and the formation of a multipolar world.”
He also emphasized that, since 2024, Kazan University has been running the BRICS-related graduate program in which students study Brazilian Portuguese as their first foreign language. In this sense, it is a unique program.
“Our university is one of the first in Russia to begin teaching Brazilian Portuguese. The Brazilian Embassy in the Russian Federation provides significant support in that,” he added.
The conference guests were welcomed on behalf of the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais by Professor Fernando Santos, Vice-Rector for International Relations; Professor Daniela Seches, Coordinator of the RusLat Research Center; and Carolina Bernardes, Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation in Brazil. The conference brought together researchers from Russia and Brazil working in international relations, political science, economics, sociology, and security.
Also participating are scholars from St. Petersburg State University, Moscow State Linguistic University, Higher School of Economics, the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences, University of São Paulo, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, the GEBRICS research group, and the Brazilian Association of International Relations Researchers.
During the opening ceremony, the importance of strengthening academic cooperation between universities in Russia, Brazil, and other BRICS+ countries and developing joint projects in education and research was noted.
At a bilateral meeting between representatives of Kazan Federal University and the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, student exchange and matters of Portuguese language internships were discussed.