Roundtable Discussion “Development of Cooperation and Dialogue between Civil Society Institutions of Russia, Germany, Poland, and the Baltic States”

The Head of the Department of the German and French Languages of PetrSU shared the best practices of the joint social project.

Kaliningrad hosted the roundtable discussion “Development of Cooperation and Dialogue between Civil Society Institutions of Russia, Germany, Poland, and the Baltic States”.

The aim of the cultural and business forum was to discuss the best practices of a dialogue between civil societies with a view to develop and spread these practices. Among the participants of the international meeting was the Head of the Department of the German and French Languages of the Institute of Foreign Languages of PetrSU Irina Kotiurova. Her report “Russian youth and German pensioners – two languages and two cultures in one project” closed the section “Social and Cultural Projects”. Irina Kotiurova described the positive experience of the “Mutual Help” project that was implemented in summer 2018 by the Department of the German and French Languages and the East-West Society (Tubingen) with the financial support of the Mayor’s Office of the city of Tubingen.

Under this project, five students of the Institute of Foreign Languages in the course of two weeks have been immersed in the culture and everyday life of Germany and assisted at retirement homes by organizing leisure activities for German pensioners. The girls have become true “people’s diplomats” by establishing friendly relations with the citizens, telling them about Petrozavodsk and creating positive image of Karelia and Russia.