Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 18 December (BelTA) – The Minsk Initiative humanitarian project promotes the development of cultural ties between Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, Mikhail Shvydkoi, the Russian President's Special Representative for International Cultural Cooperation, said at the opening of the fourth conference of this project, BelTA has learned.

“We met in Minsk for the first time on 2 December 2014 when it became clear that there was a risk that the cultural cooperation between the Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians might be severed. It was the initiative of Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian colleagues who understood the need to maintain cultural contacts despite the circumstances and complexity of the political life,” Mikhail Shvydkoi said.

“This Belarusian-Russian-Ukrainian project has become a major platform for dialogue and cultural cooperation of the three Slavic peoples, the platform where we implement scientific, cultural and information projects, with the participation of the youth that contribute towards building a harmonious world,” reads a message of greetings from the Belarusian Information Minister Alexander Karlyukevich. The message was read out by Yelena Pavlova, the head of the department of publishing activities and trade at the Information Ministry.

The current meeting in Minsk is the fourth one in a row. The literary anthology Terra Poetica was one of the results of the creative contacts. The first edition was dedicated to poetry. The second edition includes the prose by the authors of the three countries. It was presented at the conference in Minsk on 18 December.

The cultural-art project “Three Sophias” was a success. Mikhail Shvydkoi also added that a theater project for children with special needs is currently in the works and will be presented to the audience in March next year.

The program of the conference includes a seminar of translators of the three countries, a creative meeting of the authors of the anthology Terra Poetica with students of the philology faculty of the Belarusian State University, an event in the Union of Writers of Belarus. But the main thing is that the conference will outline the projects that will be implemented in the future.