17.12.2019
December 17th, MGIMO welcomed members of the ASEAN Moscow Committee for a meeting devoted to reviewing the activities of the ASEAN Center over the period 2017-2019.
MGIMO Rector A.Torkunov greeted the guests, among whom the Chairman of the ASEAN Moscow Committee, also Thai Ambassador to Russia Thanatip Upatising, the Cambodian Ambassador to Russia Eat Seyla (MGIMO graduate, 1992), and other diplomats from countries members of the Association.
On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by MGIMO Rector A.Torkunov, the Deputy Director of the Third Department of Asia at the Russian Foreign Ministry S.Tolechenov, the Senior Advisor at the Department of Asian and Pacific Cooperation at the Russian Foreign Ministry N.Nefedova, the Chairman of the Russia-ASEAN Business Council I.Polyakov, the Executive Director of the ASEAN-Russia Business Council D.Akkaziev, MGIMO’s Vice-Rector for General Affairs A.Malgin, the Director of the ASEAN Centre V.Sumsky, a leading expert of the Centre E.Koldunova and the Deputy Director E.Tronevskaya.
The event was kicked off by the Rector A.Torkunov, who spoke about the projects implemented by the ASEAN Centre during recent years and thanked the foreign colleagues for supporting the Centre in its different projects. V.Sumsky also expressed his thanks to the representatives of the ASEAN Committee for their trust and explained to the guests the program of the event.
The leading expert E.Koldunova gave a presentation on the Centre’s activities, highlighting the main events, including the inaugural meeting of the network of Russia and ASEAN research centers, the Russia-ASEAN Education Forum, the Russia-ASEAN Youth Forum, the ASEAN Children’s Summit and the ASEAN Academic Days at MGIMO. The speaker also reminded the audience about the visits of various foreign delegations from Southeast Asian countries to MGIMO, about the Center’s cultural and educational projects and events, the interaction of the Center’s employees with their foreign counterparts during international conferences, academic and business meetings. The analytical work of the Center was described in detail, which includes the constant updating of the dedicated website and the Centre’s page on Facebook.
The guests watched the work of the winners of the Russia-ASEAN-2019 video contest, organized jointly with the ASEAN Moscow Committee and the winners of which will be awarded a trip to Bangkok (for the Russian winner), and trips to Moscow (for the winners from ASEAN countries).
The Southeast Asian Scientific and Student Club and the Vietnamese community presented the results of their activities. The Chairman of the Southern Asian Scientific and Student Club Y.Tomskaya described the Club’s main event of the year: ASEAN Week and remarked upon the growing interest in the Club’s page on the social network VKontakte. The Head of the International Development Department of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, Vu Tkhu Cha Mi (MGIMO Graduate of 2017), spoke in turn about the main event of the Vietnamese Club: the Day of Vietnam, which gathers young Vietnamese people and students living in Russia. The speaker also related the history of this project, underlining its fresh accomplishments.
As the meeting came to a close, the participants discussed the directions for the future development of the Center. The ASEAN Moscow Committee remarked upon the positive outlook and the quality of the presentations, which gave the guests a thorough understanding of the activities of the ASEAN Center.
