Representatives of geographical organizations of foreign countries told about the plans of cooperation with the Russian Geographical Society in the framework of agreements signed on October 31.
On the first day of the Festival President of the Russian Geographical Society, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu signed cooperation agreements with Geographical Societies of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Spain, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, China, Serbia, Turkey and the Czech Republic.
"Without cooperation we have no future, we will not survive - says President of the Italian Geographical Society Sergio Conti. - Every year we organize the geographical festival. And every year it is dedicated to a certain topic. It would be nice to dedicate the next festival to Russia, to the Russian Geographical Society. "
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Many countries noted that cooperation is not being established, but restarted after the breakout of the USSR.
"I would be very happy if after decades since the breakout of the Union, we could cooperate - says President of the Czech Geographical Society Bohumir Jansky. - In the Soviet times, we used to work more together. I personally have spent more than three years working on Baikal and wrote a book about it. I know that the Russian Geographical Society conducts an expedition to study the lake - "Lyman - Baikal." I would really like to take part in it and continue my work on Lake Baikal. "
In addition to Baikal, our geographical societies could work together in other areas. For example, to learn from each other's experience in the field of social geography, especially in the matter of migration, including illegal migration.
"We plan to have several joint projects very soon - said President of Azerbaijan Geographical Society Ramiz Mahmud oglu Mammadov. - It is necessary to delimit the southern border of Europe. It must be laid along the watershed. Another project - a study of the impact of changes in the Caspian sea level on the processes of desertification. It is important to remember that desertification causes both environmental and economic damage."
Assistant to the President of the Association of Spanish Geographers Marina Frolova told about the possibility of getting Russian geographers as reviewers of specialized authoritative editions.
"We plan to exchange information about conferences, colloquiums, meetings of geographers, - said Frolova. - We publish scientific journals of geography both in Spanish and English, and would like to invite Russian scientists as authors and reviewers. Spain is in the west of Europe, and Russia stretches to the eastern border of Eurasia. Our goal is to reduce the geographical distance with the help of scientific collaboration."
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Geographers from other countries have been participating in the projects of the Russian Geographical Society for several years now. For example, ten specialists from Spain took part in IV field season of the archaeological and geographical expedition "Kyzyl - Kuragino". Generally many consider the exchange of students and foreign practices to be one of the most promising areas of cooperation.
"We hope for fruitful cooperation - says Assistant Vice President of the Serbian Geographical Society Zora Živanović. - We already have an agreement that, in July 2015, our students will take part in the expedition of the Russian Geographical Society on the island of Gogland in the Gulf of Finland. We expect to continue exchange of students with regional branches in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the future.»
Joint work on school education is an important aspect. "Many of regional branches of the Russian Geographical Society were keenly interested in our educational programs of geography in school, - says chairman of the Belarusian Geographic Society Peter S. Lopukh. - I am also the Chairman of the Section of Geography and Cartography of the Ministry of Education of Belarus and I work on the development and adjustment of geography curricula. On our part, we want to learn from the experience of other geographical societies in attracting new members and sources of funding for our projects. We are going to hold a big event on the 60th anniversary of the Belarusian Geographic Society, and your experience of the Festival will be very useful for us. We would like to show the work of our regions. "
Photo: Ilya Melnikov
