The Russian Foreign Ministry and Rossotrudnichestvo appreciate the results of the program “BRICS People Choosing Life” in India
The international and interregional social and cultural program “BRICS People Choosing Life” implemented in December 2022 in New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, Republic of India, received positive reaction from the country’s academics, students and youngsters (about 2000 people), as well as major Indian and Russian media (the link to the final report of the program: https://bricsmt.ru/index.php/zhurnal/149-itogovyj-otchet-indijskogo-etapa-estafety-pyatistoronnej-sotsialno-kulturnoj-programmy-narody-briks-vybirayut-zhizn).
The Indian phase of the program under the motto «From the ecology of soul and body to the ecology of the world” was the first one in the baton of the five-lateral program planned to be realized in all the BRICS countries till 2026.
The program has been supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and Rossotrudnichestvo.
On February 14th, 2023, Lyudmila Sekacheva, President of the Regional public organization “BRICS. World of Traditions”, Manager of the Program, presented the Indian phase’s results to the Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Russian sherpa to BRICS Sergey Ryabkov.
Pavel Knyazev, Ambassador-at-large, Russian sous-sherpa to BRICS, BRICS division of the MFA’s Foreign Policy Planning Department officials, and Dmitry Kurbatov, RPO “BRICS. World of Traditions” international relations curator, Program’s coordinator, Master’s student of MGIMO University, were present at the meeting with the Deputy Minister.
During the meeting, the final presentation materials of the Indian Program were shown, including videos and photos sparkling great interest of Sergei Ryabkov and other diplomats, who were awarded Certificates of Honor from the organizers "For the invaluable support of the Indian stage of the International and Interregional Social and Cultural Program "BRICS People Choosing life".
Special attention of the Deputy Minister was focused on the baton of cultural and research project "Great BRICS Teachers" presented at seven educational institutions, including Mumbai and Pune Universities, as well as to the planned exchange between universities and schools of Russia and India and the creation of the Tolstoy and Gandhi Center at the premises of Delhi Public School, Dwarka.
According to the top-level diplomat, "The projects and events carried out by the public organization contribute to forming an extensive network of partnership and friendly relations between the five states, as well as stimulate public interest in multifaceted cooperation in the grouping format".
Sergey Ryabkov supported the idea of holding the final presentation of the Program at the Indian Embassy in Moscow, as well as at MGIMO University under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in April 2023 within the framework of the BRICS Youth Project Laboratory, expressing his intention to support this international student event personally.
On the same day, Zamir Kabulov, Director of the Second Asia Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, was introduced to the results of the Program, and highly appreciated the initiatives, projects and results. The diplomat confirmed his willingness to provide further assistance on behalf of the Department and the Russian Embassy in India to new and promising projects of the Indian stage of the Program.
The Director of the Department and the special envoy Andrey Zhiltsov were awarded Certificates of Honor for huge support of the Program.
The baton of Program results’ presentation continued in Rossotrudnichestvo on February 17th at the meeting of Lyudmila Sekacheva with the Deputy Head of the Agency Dmitry Polikanov, who provided valuable assistance in holding a number of large-scale events of the Program at the premises of the Russian House in New Delhi, Russian House in Mumbai, and multiple colleges and universities.
Ruslan Emirveliev, Deputy Head of the Public Diplomacy Department of Rossotrudnichestvo, participated in the negotiations.
Both representatives of the Agency were also awarded Certificates of Honor for their assistance in implementing the Indian stage of the Program.
A special event of this meeting was the discussion and coordination of new plans and initiatives of the Program for their implementation in India with the assistance of Rossotrudnichestvo. In the educational direction, this is undoubtedly the creation of the Tolstoy and Gandhi cultural and educational center on the grounds of the Indian school, Dwarka.
Besides, the cultural and educational project "In Memory of Afanasy Nikitin", during which it is planned to establish cultural and educational partnership between the College in the settlement of Revdanda, Maharashtra, where a monument (stele) to Afanasy Nikitin is installed, and the Svistalovskaya school in Tver region that is the birthplace of the famous merchant, in which the permanent exhibition "A Journey Beyond the Three Sees" is being prepared on the matter of Afanasy’s voyage to India.
The project will serve to the cause of popularizing the sights of the Tver region in India, thanks to the screening in the Indian state a new full-length documentary "Seligerye" about the traditions and history of Lake Seliger.
Moreover, economic, investment, cultural and tourist capacities of the Tver region will be presented.
Commenting on the results of the Indian stage of the Program, Dmitry Polikanov emphasized that "this is the case when it was possible to generate applied initiatives that bind people together from ordinary ideas in the style of "peace-friendship".
The honorary participants of the meetings got acquainted with the plans of the Life Program for 2023-2024, including the presentation of its results at MGIMO University under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (in April 2023), at the Indian Embassy in Russia, as well as preparations for the implementation of the Brazilian stage of the Program, which will be held in 2024 in the cities of Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo with the participation of active youth and students of the country.
The productive and positive nature of these meetings confirms the close alliance of public, state diplomacy and Rossotrudnichestvo and gives hope for the successful continuation of the important and useful Life Program.