The IX Caspian Media Forum will start its work in Astrakhan on 16 August. Its main theme is “The Dialogue of Cultures as the Basis for the Caspian Development”. TV BRICS is the international media partner of the event. “The participants will share working tools and mechanisms to improve the quality and promote the dialogue of cultures. I am sure that today’s platform will become a good place for media interaction and a point of unity for the peoples of the Caspian Sea,” said Igor Babushkin, Governor of the Astrakhan region.

The media forum will be attended by about 120 foreign guests, including government officials, representatives of regions, expert community and mass media. Participants are expected from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other countries. One of the most numerous delegations will be from the Islamic Republic of Iran. It includes Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali, Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Kazan Davoud Mirzakhani, Head of the General Directorate of Information of the Ministry of Culture of Iran Abbas Mohammadian, as well as TV BRICS International Media Network’s partner IRNA News Agency represented by Hossein Abolghasemi, Editor-in-Chief of International Information, and Zaman Rezakhani, Director for International Relations.

“IRNA hopes that this forum will contribute to the establishment of multilateral and closer co-operation between the media of the Caspian littoral states. <…> fortunately, the media have already realised that in today’s world they need to cooperate with each other to get reliable information from different parts of the world faster. The advantage of multilateral co-operation is that it is regular. Besides, this format of work is beneficial for all parties involved,” Zaman Rezakhani shared his expectations from the upcoming event.

The key event of the media forum will be the plenary session scheduled for 17 August. Representatives of the authorities of the Caspian littoral states, including Deputy Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District Anton Kalinin, Head of the Administration of the Governor of Astrakhan Region Pavel Pautov, First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan Farid Jafarov, Chief of Staff of Akim of Atyrau Region, the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlybek Zhenisbekuly are expected to speak.

The programme includes several sessions devoted to various aspects of cooperation in the cultural sphere. For example, the role of cinema as a means of international communication and the impact of digital technologies on art and media will be discussed. Aleksey Vishnevetsky, Deputy Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia, will hold a master class on investigative journalism. There will be a meeting of representatives of news agencies from the Caspian Sea countries. The winners of the Caspian Without Borders journalistic contest will also be announced.

The Caspian Media Forum has been held regularly since 2014. It is organised by the Government of the Astrakhan region, the Administration of the President of Russia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS countries, the Caspian-Eurasia Centre for International and Socio-Political Studies and the North-South Political Science Centre.

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