Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme Celebrated its 10th Anniversary!

 

A grand meeting dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme was held on December 2, 2010, in the President Hotel in Moscow.

In addition to the Russian IFAP Committee members, the meeting was attended by the Committee's friends and partners – representatives of federal and regional authorities; heads of major libraries, higher education and research institutions; archives, publishing houses, book trading companies, civil society institutes and mass media.

 

The meeting was opened by Evgeny Kuzmin, Chairman of the Russian IFAP Committee. He dwelled upon the history of the Committee, its objectives and tasks, main lines of actions, implemented projects, large international gatherings, information and publishing activity, Committee's members  contribution to the work of the Intergovernmental IFAP Council and governing UNESCO bodies, interaction with federal and regional authorities of Russia and other CIS countries.

 

Evgeny Kuzmin expressed sincere gratitude to all of the IFAP Committee's friends, partners, patrons and sponsors - in the first place, to the Russian Ministry of Culture, Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, Spetsvyaz of the Russian (Federal Security Service) and UNESCO - for their invaluable assistance and support during the 10 years of the Committee's activity.

 

Mr. Dendev Badarch, Director of UNESCO Office in Moscow, read the address by Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, in which she stressed that for 10 years the Russian IFAP Committee had been a pioneer in many respects: it was the first National Committee established and undertook major projects of national and international scope many with UNESCO support; the activity of the Russian IFAP Committee mirrored the active engagement of the Russian Federation itself in promoting the objectives of the Information for All Programme.

The greeting from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation read:

Activities by the Russian IFAP Committee, established on the initiative of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, has been successful and efficient. Dozens of All-Russian and international projects have been implemented that are significant for the development of Russian cultural and educational institutions and for the enhancement of Russian cultural and information presence in the world. Promotion of the UNESCO Information for All Programme in Russia has had an essential impact on the development of public libraries and realization of the National Programme for Reading Support. It contributed to the establishment of public centers of legal and other socially relevant information, to the promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity in cyberspace, and to the development of information culture and literacy.

 

The greeting by Sergei Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, read that during 10 years of existence the Committee had achieved great success, contributed significantly to the development of the UNESCO Communication and Information Sector and proclaimed the leading positions of Russia in this field.

 

The greeting on behalf of the Spetssvyaz of the Russian Federation was read by Vjacheslav Yudin, Deputy Director of the Legal Information Department. He noted that both organizations had been successfully involved in cooperation on a very significant governmental task in the field of legal informatization of the Russian Federation. This task was fulfilled through a programme of establishing and developing a network of public legal information centers on the basis of public libraries. In this connection, Spetssvyaz is grateful to the Russian Committee for support in the consolidation of all stakeholders partnership and in the global promotion of ideas and results of the Public Legal Information Centres Programme and of Russian best practice and achievements, particularly, in UNESCO.

 The welcoming address by Abulfas Karayev, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Azerbaijan Republic, read that the Russian Committee had carried out a very significant job not only in Russia but in other CIS countries, including Azerbaijan, where the Azerbaijan Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme was being established with support of Mr. Evgeny Kuzmin and where public legal information centers were being opened on the premises of Azerbaijan libraries.

 

Nadezhda Zaikova, Vice-Rector of the North-Eastern Federal University named after M. Ammosov, read off the welcoming address by Egor Borisov, President of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), in which he expressed deep gratitude for the achievements in the international and national cultural policies and long-term beneficial cooperation.

 

Acting Director of the Russian National Library Anton Likhomanov congratulated the audience on behalf of the Russian Library Association and Russian National Library. The audience was also addressed by Irina Mironova, Vice-President of the Kodeks Legal Information Consortium; Tatyana. Bolkhovitina, Director of the Bryansk Branch of Orlov Regional Civil Service Academy; Ekaterina Kudrina, Rector of the Kemerovo State University of Culture and Arts; Emil Yakupov, President of the Paratype Company; Olga Chernova, Director of the Department of Culture of Smolensk Region; Galina Sokolova, Deputy Minister of Culture of Ryazan Region; Valery Bubnov, Director of the Orel Regional Public Library; Leonid Kuibyshev, Director of the PIC Center; Nadezhda Kondrashova, Adviser to the President of Prosoft Company, and others.

 

The honorary diploma of the Russian IFAP Committee were granted to the most active partners, patrons, sponsors and friends of the Committee.

 

The grand meeting concluded by a concert of art music, which was prepared specially for the anniversary of the Committee by Irina Shubina, Associate Professor of the Music Department of Moscow State Pedagogical University, and her graduates – Irina Levina, a laureate of international competitions, and Sergey Khokhlov.

The evening ended by a reception on behalf of the Russian IFAP Committee.

 

All participants to the grand meeting received a finely printed 200-page brochure dedicated to the anniversary UNESCO Information for All Programme in Russia. 2000-2010 and all current year publications by the Committee. A display with the publications by the Committee and the Interregional Library Cooperation Center was arranged on the premises of the meeting.

 

The anniversary celebrations were organized by the Interregional Library Cooperation Center (the Committee's executive body) under the auspices o the RF Ministry of Culture.

 

Photogallery in Russian