The welcoming message was delivered by Head of the Press Service of the CIS Executive Committee Svetlana Malinina.
Text of the message:
“Dear friends!
On behalf of the CIS Executive Committee, I am pleased to welcome the organizers and participants of the International Conference ‘Journalism in the 21st Century – Competition and Solidarity. The Russian Language Unites!’
In the face of confrontational changes in the world, when science and technology are developing at an unprecedented pace, it is especially important to find common ground. The CIS Executive Committee notes with deep satisfaction the expanding geography of your event's participants.
The Conference makes a significant contribution to the promotion of the Russian language as a tool for intercultural dialogue, not only within the Commonwealth of Independent States but also in the world.
The official language of the Commonwealth is Russian. It is the Russian language that helps maintain a lively and engaged humanitarian dialogue. Its use serves to preserve and strengthen friendship among the peoples of the CIS countries, facilitates the exchange of ideas, and promotes trade, economic and cultural exchange.
In the CIS, cooperation between countries has received an additional impetus from the recently established International Organization for the Russian Language (in Russian). Its main tasks are to preserve and strengthen cultural and humanitarian interaction based on the close harmony of the Russian language and the languages of the CIS member states, as well as other countries.
I am confident that new ideas and initiatives will be put forward at the conference, and the documents developed will determine the prospects for the effective use of the potential of the Russian language as a language of interethnic communication in the humanitarian sphere of the Commonwealth.
I wish you productive work, interesting discussions and creative solutions!”