On December 18-19, 2009, St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations organized certain events in Thessaloniki aimed at developing cooperation and strengthening the ties between the partner cities.
On December 18-19, 2009, St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations organized certain events in Thessaloniki aimed at developing cooperation and strengthening the ties between the partner cities. The events were assisted by Mayor of Thessaloniki, as well as the Consulate General of Russia in Thessaloniki.
On December 18, 2009, a «round table» of partner cities was run, concerning culture and education, in order to exchange opinions on possible cooperation projects to mark the 10th anniversary of partnership between St.Petersburg and at Thessaloniki in 2012.
On behalf of St.Petersburg, the round table was attended by a delegation, which included the representatives of the committees at St.Petersburg Administration, State Russian Museum, St.Petersburg State University, and Paedagogical University named after A.Herzen. Delegation was headed by V.Yu.Pankratov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Culture of St.Petersburg.
On behalf of Thessaloniki, there were: B.Gakis, Vice-Mayor for Culture, Youth, and Sports; representatives of the Department for Culture at the Municipality of Thessaloniki; A.Mazzari, Director of the international festival «Dimitria»; A. Mantos, Rector of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki; Mr Nalpantis, Deputy Director of the Museum of Byzantine Culture; A.Kinigopulos, President of the association «Friends of the European Idea»; N.Suponitskaya, President of «Friendship Association» and Director of Russian Center; P. Kontos, President of the Hellenic Badminton Federation. The round table was also attended by the representatives of the Consulate General of Russia in Thessaloniki.
Participants of the round table expressed their mutual interest in developing bilateral contacts and joint projects in education, culture, art history, and cultural heritage, through the use of innovative technologies, inclusive remote education among them (for handicapped people as well); cooperation of university faculties and UNESCO clubs; holding the virtual inter-museum exhibitions; sharing the techniques in teaching and learning Russian and Greek languages; partnership of the schools; participation in international scientific conferences and festivals run by the partner cities; organizing the events of sports; preparation of the programs «Year of Greece in Russia» and «Year of Russia in Greece» in 2013, 2014, respectively.
On December 19, 2009, the Russian Center was inaugurated, established by the «Russian World» Foundation, at the Theater of Northern Macedonia in Thessaloniki, with the participation of V.Papageorgopulos, Mayor of Thessaloniki, representatives of mass-media, the cultural circles of the city, the Consulate General of Russia in Thessaloniki, and Center for Information and Education of the project «Russian Museum: A Virtual Affiliation».
In his speech, Mayor V.Papageorgopulos mentioned the importance and value of Thessaloniki and Greece cooperation with Russia, as well as establishing the Russian Center in Thessaloniki, which involved the participation of partner city of St.Petersburg; he also promised the support for the center by the Municipality of Thessaloniki. At the opening ceremony, the speeches were also made by: A.A.Popov, Consul General of Russia in Thessaloniki; V.N.Istratov, Deputy Executive Director of «Russian World» Foundation; and V.Yu.Pankratov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Culture of St.Petersburg. During the ceremony, a video was shown, featuring the greeting by V.A.Gusev, Director of the State Russian Museum, and a presentation on the project «Russian Museum: A Virtual Affiliation» was given.
Source: Committee for External Relations of St.Petersburg