DUSHANBE, 18.11.2020 (NIAT Khovar) – The online conference of the head of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, compatriots living abroad, and international humanitarian cooperation Rossotrudnichestvo Yevgeny Primakov took place on Tuesday.
Journalists of many countries, including Tajikistan, asked questions to be addressed by the team of Rossotrudnichestvo.

The focus of Rossotrudnichestvo is the transition to humanitarian influence in the countries where it has representative offices.

“We are expanding the concept of humanitarian presence. This is a person’s access to rights, education, and culture,” noted Primakov.

“The priority for working with the countries in the CIS is clearly outlined in the foreign policy concept,” he added.

Editor of Khovar’s Russian section Elena Batenkova asked him about making adjustments and new initiatives to the work of the Rossotrudnichestvo representative office in Tajikistan.

Answering the question, Primakov noted that Tajikistan is one of the priority countries.

“The Russian Cultural Center should be a place of attraction for young people. There are certain restrictions on the entry of students into Russia due to the pandemic, but this problem is temporary. First of all, we are interested in the arrival of students from our former Soviet republics, the CIS countries to Russia,” he emphasized.

“Currently, a decision has already been made by the Russian President [Vladimir Putin] and the State Duma to double the number of quotas by 2023-2024. We are discussing how to make Russian education more accessible. We believe that part of the quota students should be provided with scholarships and grants. It will definitely pay off in the long run,” said Primakov.

“We must educate foreign students as they are ambassadors of good relations between Russia and abroad,” he added.

As for education in the countries where Rossotrudnichestvo is represented, Primakov noted that we public and private initiatives in the field of education must be supported. There is a need for even more schools, not necessarily Russian schools, but with Russian language courses. Rossotrudnichestvo is obliged to support private initiative.

Meanwhile, Primakov recalled that Russian has been serving as the language of interethnic communication.

“This is a heritage that needs to be preserved. We must organize educational courses, including in local languages,” noted he.

“Our peacekeeping mission in the Middle East is to raise interest toward Russia and the Russian language. People have tremendous respect for President Putin. Many people want to learn Russian, and this initiative needs to be taken up,” said Primakov.