Year of Russian language and culture

The embassy of Russia has presented yesterday at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, in Tirana, the initiative of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to name this year, 2007, as the “Year of the Russian language”.
During the opening ceremony there were present the vice ambassador of Russia in Tirana, Mr.Valerij Tikhonov, the rector of the University of Tirana, the director of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, professors and students. The vice ambassador said during the ceremony that there will be future projects between Albania and Russia because of their strong links and the common history of the two nations.
He said that after the initiative of the president Putin for naming the year 2007 as the year of the Russian language, there will be a stronger cooperation with the department of the Russian language of the faculty. The vice ambassador said that during this year, the students of Russian language will participate in a contest that will be organized by the Russian embassy. The three best students will receive a scholarship that will give them the chance to study in one of the best universities of Moscow. The organizers of the activity have declared that during this year the embassy of Russia will provide Russian movies for the Albanian public and it will also be able to give to the department of the university different publications in Russian language. It is projected that at this period there will be a grant of 50,000 $ for the initiative, that will be funded by the Embassy of Russia.
The activity ended with the presentation of some of the most famous Russian writer’s works. The same activities are organized in 30 other states around the world as in Belgium, Poland, France, India, USA, etc. By the end of the year 2007 it is supposed to be organized 839 activities in 65 states. Among them it will be, “The week of the Russian language and education” in Kazakhstan, the international conference “Russian language today” in Armenia, the festival of the Russian language and literature “Pushkin’s days in Austria”, the participation of Russia in the 20th Jubilee International Exhibition of languages and cultures “Expolingua” in Berlin, the international festival of Russian poetry and prose for the states of the Central and Eastern Europe in Slovakia and the international contest of essays in Russian language among 63 countries, related to these topics:” The Russian language, the first language of communication in the cosmos”, “Russia, its language and culture, in my life”, “My favorite Russian writer”. The winners will be invited in Moscow in November.