Started Accepting Applications for the II International Competition "LEADER OF PEOPLE'S DIPLOMACY"

MOSCOW. July 3, 2023. A press conference dedicated to the launch of the II International Competition "LEADER OF PEOPLE'S DIPLOMACY" - 2023 with the participation of foreign representatives was held at the site of the International Multimedia Press Center "Russia Today". Due to the high interest in the project and the questions received, the event lasted more than 2 hours. The participants not only answered questions, but also agreed on new formats for interaction within the project that would bring together people's diplomats from different countries.

The organizer of the International Competition is the all-Russian public organization "Assembly of the Peoples of Russia". The project is supported by the Presidential Grants Foundation.

The purpose of the competition is to identify and support Russian and foreign public leaders whose activities are aimed at developing people's diplomacy, interethnic and interreligious peace and harmony, friendship and mutual understanding between peoples.

The press conference was attended by members of the Organising Committee, partners, finalists of the 1st International People's Diplomacy Leader Competition and representatives of the media.

The Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, a partner of the competition, was represented by the Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, a member of the Supervisory Board of the National Center for Public Diplomacy of the SCO in Russia, Andrey Belyaninov and the First Deputy Secretary General – Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, Chairman of the Council of the Assembly of Peoples of Russia Svetlana Smirnova.

The press conference was also attended by the Head of the National Policy Department of the Internal Policy Department of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation Tatyana Vagina, Chairman of the Commission of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation on Harmonization of Interethnic and Interreligious Relations, Co-Chairman of the Council of the Assembly of Peoples of Russia Vladimir Zorin, President of the Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan, member of the National Kurultai Banu Nurgazieva (Kazakhstan), President of the Tunisian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Winner of the I International Competition "Leader of Public Diplomacy" Christina Romanenko (Luati) Tunisia, Teacher of Russian Language and Literature at "V. Jinishyan Teghniq Comprehensive School" SNO in Kotayk region of the Republic of Armenia Vahan Sahakyan (Armenia), winner of the First International Competition "Leader of People's Diplomacy",, Director of the SCO Center for Public Diplomacy in Uzbekistan Kabuljon Sabirov (Uzbekistan), Head of the Department for Work with Non-Governmental Organizations of Rossotrudnichestvo Anastasia Stepanova, General Director of the Krasnodar Territory Development Foundation, finalist of the I International Competition "Leader of People's Diplomacy" Ilya Shakalov.

In the general opinion, the “Leader of Public Diplomacy” Competition confirmed the vital necessity and relevance of the development of public diplomacy institutions around the world. In the current turbulence and tension, the role of public diplomacy is most important.

The Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Andrei Belyaninov, in his speech, recalled the opening of the National Center for Public Diplomacy of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Russia, which took place on June 30. “I would like this experience to be replicated in other countries,” said Andrey Belyaninov.

The Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly spoke about other initiatives, including the creation of the Eurasian Cultural Center under the auspices of UNESCO, which would allow for the prompt recognition of cultural monuments of both tangible and intangible nature: “It is necessary to carry out this kind of inventory as soon as possible using modern methods. Otherwise, there is a risk of losing a certain cultural layer forever. There are opportunities, you just have to make an effort."

Tatyana Vagina, Head of the National Policy Department of the Internal Policy Department of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, on behalf of the Council for Interethnic Relations under the President of the Russian Federation, warmly supported the initiative to hold the Leader of Public Diplomacy competition: “The Presidential Council on Inter-Ethnic Relations is an advisory body responsible for ensuring and improving cooperation between government bodies and civil society institutions in the implementation of State ethnic policy. One of the tasks it is designed to perform is to improve international cooperation in the field of humanitarian cooperation and inter-ethnic relations. Such projects, in our opinion, need to be supported, as they help to preserve the traditions of peoples and share them.”

Vladimir Zorin, Chairman of the Commission of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation on Harmonization of Interethnic and Interreligious Relations, Co-Chairman of the Council of the Assembly of Peoples of Russia, member of the Presidential Council on Interethnic Relations, emphasized the importance of the International Round Tables that took place this year during the implementation of the second stage of the project and were devoted to the role public diplomacy in the development of relations with Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Tajikistan. In late August - early September, in continuation of the project, the organizers will hold a round table in Azerbaijan with the participation of the partners of the Competition - the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly and the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

“Today the nations are facing the task of counteracting attempts to revise the common history, to build up information and propaganda rhetoric around our countries," said Vladimir Zorin. - The international contest "Leader of People's Diplomacy" will contribute to further deepening of integration processes, strengthening of mutual understanding and trust between the peoples.”

Director of the SCO People's Diplomacy Center in Uzbekistan Kabuljon Sabirov spoke about his experience of participating as a member of the International Organizing Committee in the final of the competition, which was held as part of the Perm Open "Peoples' Friendship Forum" in December 2022: "The competition was an excellent platform for networking between a wide range of civil society actors. But separately, I would like to emphasize that trust, friendship and cooperation between our peoples were important components of the event.”

Kabuljon Sabirov recalled that the SCO Public Diplomacy Center in Uzbekistan took the initiative to create a permanent mechanism of public diplomacy: “We discussed this issue at the recent SCO Public Diplomacy Forum in Qingdao (China) and at the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly Panel Session “Public Diplomacy: Dialogue of Leaders" held within the SPIEF".

The Director of the SCO Centre for Public Diplomacy in Uzbekistan shared the project of the SCO Youth Platform "SCOLAR Network", which brings together young leaders from 18 countries.

Anastasia Stepanova, head of the Rossotrudnichestvo department for work with non-governmental organizations, noted that the International competition "Leader of People's Diplomacy" 2022 showed great interest from compatriots around the world, high desire and readiness for communication, joint implementation of socially significant projects.

“Rossotrudnichestvo will continue to support the contest informationally and organizationally. The experts of the Agency are glad to support the educational module of the contest, ready to share experience and knowledge with the participants and winners, to involve interested young people in the projects of Rossotrudnichestvo that we implement in Russia and abroad,” the expert said.

She also spoke about the flagship projects of Rossotrudnichestvo, such as "Mission Dobro", "Time for good deeds", "Hello, Russia!", "New Generation" and stressed that the goals of Rossotrudnichestvo coincide with the goals of the organizers of the International Competition "Leader of People's Diplomacy" - identifying, encouraging and accompanying talented representatives of non-governmental organizations in Russia and foreign countries in public diplomacy, stimulating the activities of public associations in public diplomacy, cooperation with compatriots abroad.

President of the Civil Alliance of Kazakhstan, member of the National Kurultai Banu Nurgaziyeva greeted the participants of the press conference on behalf of her country's "army of thousands of non-governmental organizations". “Of course, the economy is the base, politics is also very important, but today the most important topic is culture,” Banu Nurgazieva stressed.

President of the Tunisian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, winner of the I International Competition "Leader of People's Diplomacy" Christina Romanenko (Luati) spoke about her experience of participating in the competition "Leader of People's Diplomacy": "It was my first experience of participating in such competitions. I presented a project designed to strengthen the positive image of a Russian woman entrepreneur in Tunisian society, aimed at consolidating Russian-speaking women living in Tunisia. Winning came as a surprise to me, because all the projects presented were unique in nature and worthy of being winners. But we were all so united that there was a complete feeling that we shared all our victories amongst ourselves. As far as I know, the projects presented in the competition, both winning and non-winning projects, were given new impetus for further development thanks to it. People's diplomacy erases boundaries, overcomes distances at lightning speed and helps people find themselves, believe in implementation of sometimes fantastic ideas and find like-minded people. After all, one head is good, but many people's diplomats are better".

Russian Language and Literature Teacher V. Dzhinishyan of the Kotayk region of the Republic of Armenia”, the winner of the I International Competition “Leader of Public Diplomacy”, Vagan Sahakyan, in his speech, highlighted five features of the competition: “The first is the educational stage, including the passage of educational intensives. The second is the equality of generations. The third is the wide participation of real professionals. The fourth is internationality. Fifth, a wide coverage of various areas of public diplomacy. Unique works were presented both in scientific diplomacy and in digital diplomacy, sports, gastronomy. I am currently promoting pedagogical diplomacy.”

Ilya Shakalov, Director General of the Krasnodar Territory Development Foundation, finalist of the 1st International Leader of Public Diplomacy Competition (Russia), emphasized the importance of the competition at the present stage: “The importance of the People's Diplomacy Leader competition is hard to overestimate at a time when official state diplomacy is struggling. The competition is not a standard ranking of participants and their abilities; it is more aimed at selecting and supporting the most motivated people who have experience of working in the international sphere, working in humanitarian and business cooperation.”

Ilya Igorevich introduced the participants of the press conference and the audience to the immediate plans: "Thanks to the competition, at the end of July and the beginning of August this year, we will organize a business mission of Russian regions to Egypt. Representatives of a group of Russian regions will work in Cairo and Alexandria. A significant contribution to this project was made by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly, which in January and February this year held the Assembly Days in Egypt. It was this mission that was the strategic foundation of our project; we got the information and contact base so that the opportunities of different Russian regions could be further presented on the platforms of both Rossotrudnichestvo and trade missions, and other state bodies. As part of the business program, in addition to the economic moments, a scientific and educational forum will be organized for the first time on the platform of Rossotrudnichestvo in Alexandria. We plan to formally establish twinning arrangements between Krasnodar and Alexandria.”

At the end of the press conference, the First Deputy Secretary General - Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly Svetlana Smirnova highlighted the main outcomes of the I International Competition "Leader of People's Diplomacy": "At the competition we saw a spirit of co-creativity, a spirit of cooperation. It is very important that the values of friendship and co-operation are upheld among young people.”

Svetlana Smirnova called on the leaders of public diplomacy to take part in the II International Competition "Leader of Public Diplomacy", all the details can be found on the project website: http://народнаядипломатия.рф

You can watch the full video of the press conference here.

The start of the II International Competition "Leader of Public Diplomacy" - 2023 was given at the recent St. Petersburg International Economic Forum during the panel session "People's Diplomacy: Dialogue of Leaders". The session was organized by the Eurasian Peoples' Assembly.

In 2022, 463 people took part in the Leader of Public Diplomacy International Competition - representatives of the non-profit sector from 34 regions of Russia and 23 other countries, including Turkey, Romania, Moldova, France, Canada, Italy, Mexico, India, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Armenia, Israel, Serbia, Syria, etc. The winners of the competition were 30 people - representatives of 13 states.

The result of the first stage of the project was the joint development and implementation of a number of international projects, the authors of which were the participants of the competition. Among them are exhibitions, business missions, sports tournaments, etc.