ASEAN Centre in MGIMO-University the MFA of Russia

Центр АСЕАН при МГИМО

ASEAN Week in MGIMO

ASEAN Week in MGIMO

08.12.2017

On December 4-8 the ASEAN Week dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN and organized by the Scientific Students Community on Southeast Asia Studies in cooperation with the ASEAN Centre took place at MGIMO.

The first event in the framework of the ASEAN Week was the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition “From Southeast Asia with Love” which consisted of photos made by winners of the student’s photo contest. With the support and kind assistance of prominent Russian photographer Mr. Sergey Kovalchulk the best photos were selected.

On December 4 the conference “The 50th Anniversary of ASEAN: Issues and Prospects of Development” opened the ASEAN Week. The participants exchanged views on various issues on current development of the Association. Dr. Victor Sumsky, Director of the ASEAN Centre welcomed guests at the conference. Dr. Vladimir Mazyrin, Director of the Vietnam-ASEAN Research Centre, Ms. Alina Vladimirova, researcher at the Centre of Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania Studies, Mr. Dmitry Kosirev, political analyst at the news agency “Russia Today”, and MGIMO associate professors Dr. Ksenia Efremova and Dr. Ilya Dyachkov delivered presentation at the expert’s session.

The second part of the conference consisted of three parallel youth sessions. Students from MGIMO University, Institute of African and Asian Studies MSU, High School of Economics and RUDN University participated in the discussions. The speakers focused on regional integration issues in Southeast Asia and identified new trends in political and social-economic life of the ASEAN Member States. Such topics as digital economy in Southeast Asia, prospects of Russian business in the region, Russia-ASEAN and APEC summits in 2017, Rohingya crisis and disputes in the South-China Sea were discussed.

On the second day the film screening of the Malaysian movie “Hanyut” by U Wei Hj. Shaari was held. The movie is based on the novel “Almayer's Folly” by English author Joseph Conrad and tells the story of a Dutchman and his family in colonial Malaysia in the 19th century. The guests were welcomed by Dr. Evgenya Kukushkina, Head of the Department on Southeast Asia Philology at IASS MSU, who presented the biography of the film director and gave some historic backround. Among the attendees were students from IAAS MSU who study Malaysian and other Southeast Asian languages.

On December 6 the model of ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting took place. The participants discussed the maritime security in the South-China Sea. The game was dynamic, each of the participants tried to achieve the goals set for him according to the position of the country he represented. After the end of the game participants concluded the results, discussed what goals they achieved.

On December 7 the Ambassador of the Republic of Philippines H.E. Carlos Sorreta delivered a lecture on “The Philippines Chairmanship in ASEAN 2017: Key Results”. He told about the future prospects of the Associations developments and summarized the results of the ASEAN Summit in Manila. Dr. Ekaterina Koldunova moderated the lecture. The Embassy of the Philippines also presented to the ASEAN centre a set of books in tagalong and English languages. The ambassador’s lecture was followed by the film screening of the philippinese movie “Sonata”.

The concluding event of the ASEAN Week was the cultural evening, prepared by Russian and ASEAN students. Among the guests were MGIMO professors Dr. Svetlana Glazunova, Dr. Luidmila Larionova as well as representatives from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Thailand. The guests were able to check their knowledge about the Southeast Asia and ASEAN, enjoy traditional dances, Indonesian martial art and listen to the popular music in the region. By the end all guest were invited to try traditional Vietnamese and Thai cuisine and received some souvenirs.

The lecture on “Global Challenges in the biological security. Should we expect a world pandemic form Southeast Asia?” by the Head of the Department of Scientific Support for Sanitary and Epidemiological Well-Being V. Smolensky was the last event of the ASEAN Week.