Volgograd State University concluded the International Forum "Volgograd Dialogue"

Four round tables were organized during the International Forum "Volgograd Dialogue". Speakers and participants from fourteen countries (the Russian Federation, the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Turkiye, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Spain, Romania, Belgium, Armenia, the People's Republic of China, the Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, Great Britain) took part in the forum.

During the plenary session "Modern Trends in International Relations" the participants discussed the main aspects of the instability of the modern system of international relations, the nature of information campaigns, as well as shared their views on the impact of sanctions on the development of modern international relations. The plenary session featured leading speakers in international relations from Tehran University (Mehdi Sanai), Istanbul University (Hakan Gunes), St. Petersburg State University (Natalia Zaslavskaya), Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski (Tatiana Dronzina), Lomonosov Moscow State University (Andrey Manoylo), the Ohio State University (Pietro Shakarian), Institute of Diplomacy of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Taisiya Marmontova); Ivan Timofeev, Program Director of the Russian International Affairs Council and the Valdai Club; Alexei Dzermant, research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus; Beniamin Pogosian, Director of the Political and Economic Strategic Research Center of the Armenian Political Science Association. The moderator of the plenary session was Dr. Elena Parubochaya, Director of the Center for Public Diplomacy of VolSU.

The speakers of the first round table "The Greater Caspian Region as a geopolitical axis of Eurasia" discussed the issues of provision for infrastructure projects, issues of their implementation, as well as common geopolitical contradictions that currently exist within the Caspian region and the Middle East. The importance of developing the Caspian port infrastructure for the smooth operation of the International North-South Transport Corridor was highlighted. Speakers and experts of the round table agreed that the Volgograd region is a part of International North-South Transport Corridor both territorially and logistically. Therefore, it is necessary to establish cooperation with the Caspian research centers and create the necessary logistic chains. The round table was moderated by Dr. Ekaterina Arkhipova, Acting Head of the Department of History and International Relations.

Participants of the second round table "Youth Diplomacy and Educational Cooperation" identified and discussed the main issues of the development of youth diplomacy during the pandemic and the post-pandemic period, as well as practices of implementing modern youth projects and grants during the pandemic. It is important to emphasize that as a result of this platform it was agreed to strengthen cooperation and further develop interaction with the Youth Parliament under the State Duma of the Russian Federation, as well as with the Youth Chamber of the Union State. The moderator of the round table was Pavel Perekhodov, Head of the Department of Youth Policy and Educational Activity of Volgograd State University.

Speakers of the third round table "Environmental partnership for sustainable development" outlined topical environmental issues and the issues of effective prevention of possible environmental disasters. Center for Public Diplomacy of VolSU and the Department of Ecology and Nature Management of VolSU together with representatives of the Voronezh State University arranged to prepare and launch a "Green Deal" joint project for higher education development within the European Commission's Erasmus + program contest. The round table was moderated by Dr. Anna Kholodenko, Head of the Department of Ecology and Nature Management of Volgograd State University.

Speakers of the fourth round table "Sister Cities Relations: Successful Practices of Partnership and Intercultural Communication" discussed the preliminary results of the 4Cities4Peace project, as well as the "Murals: Volgograd-Cleveland" project. Participants of the round table specified the aspects of the sister cities movement and partnership of cities, popularization of sister cities ideas among the youth, since the formation of positive image of states in the minds of young people creates a successful basis for future development of international cooperation. Prospects of realization of the "Great Rivers" project in a context of qualitatively new variant of development of intercultural dialogue were also noted. Separately, the relationship between the pioneers of the world sister cities movement - Volgograd and its British sister city Coventry - were discussed at this platform. The sister city was represented by Sir Ciarán Devane, Executive Director of the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations of Coventry University, who spoke about the activities of the Center and emphasized the interest in the continued development of sister cities relations between Coventry and Volgograd.

Earlier, in 2016-2017, the activists of the Center for Public Diplomacy of VolSU took part in the internship organized by the Center for Trust, Peace and Social Relations of Coventry University.

Participants of the International Forum "Volgograd Dialogue" expressed their willingness to continue and strengthen international cooperation and the sister city movement. Volgograd State University invites all interested citizens and organizations to participate in the activities of the Center for Public Diplomacy.