The Third All-Russia Congress of UNESCO Chairs was held in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation on 14-15 December 2015 hosted by the National Research University “Gorniy”. The Congress devoted to UNESCO’s 70th anniversary became a very important event in the context of resource mobilization and cooperation with UNESCO Global Networks aligned with the main UNESCO documents, initiatives and programmes including Framework Action Plan “Education 2030”.
At the event, more than 140 participants representing Russian UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs as well as Russian ASPnet regional coordinators and heads of UNESCO ASPnet schools presented results of their activities and discussed topical issues of cooperation inside and outside of Networks. A special attention was payed to the improvement of cooperation between these two Networks in the context of implementation of UNESCO Education Strategy, Incheon and Qingdao Declarations, Framework Action Plan “Education 2030” and other relevant UNESCO initiatives, programmes, decisions and recommendations.
The Congress was opened by the welcome speech of hosting University and followed by the Seminar on cooperation between UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs and ASPnet. The UNESCO official representatives Ms. Inga Nichanian, Programme Specialist of ED/HE responsible for coordination of UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs and Prof. Alexander Khoroshilov, Officer-in-Charge of UNESCO IITE, moderated this seminar dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Organization. At the beginning of the seminar, Prof. Khoroshilov delivered a keynote speech “Improving the Mechanisms of Interconnection between Global UNESCO Networks. IITE Best Practice”. Three round tables (education, natural, engineering sciences and ecology, socio-cultural issues and communication) have been organized with participation of UNESCO representatives at the first day of the Congress too. Ms. Inga Nichanian and Prof. Alexander Khoroshilov also took part in the official event of the International Culture Forum opened by the President of the Russian Federation Mr. Vladimir Putin.
Ms. Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, took part in the Plenary session on the second day of the Congress with a panel speech. The other keynote speakers were: Mr. Vladimir Litvinenko, rector of the National Research University “Gorniy”, Mr. Grigory Ordzonikidze, Secretary-General of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, Mr. Vladimir Egorov, Chairman of the Coordination Committee of Russian UNESCO Chairs, Ms. Nella Pruss, Russian ASPnet National Coordinator, Ms. Elena Pronicheva, Executive Director of the Tolerance Center, Mr. Andrey Guryev, Director-General of the FosAgro Company (the main sponsor of the event), Ms. Natalia Tarasova, IUPAC President, Head of the UNESCO Chair “Green Chemistry”. Several VIP guests including Mr. Mintimer Shaymiev, First President of Tatarstan Republic, Ms. Alexandra Ochirova and Mr. Zurab Tsereteli, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors participated in the Plenary session of the event.
During the event a number of meetings with Congress participants and UNESCO colleagues were arranged where concrete proposals for cooperation between IITE and Russian participants of UNESCO Global Networks (chairs and schools) have been discussed including an action plan of cooperation between IITE and Russian UNESCO Chairs community.
IITE proposals in the context of the Congress’ theme were included into the Final document of the event.
