An International Friendship Club opened in Belgorod

Regional platforms of the International Friendship Club started to open all over the country on the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation (No. Pr-1019 of May 30, 2024). The project’s task is to continue and transform the “Cultural Patronage” programme, implemented as a part of the World Youth Festival, and to facilitate regular interaction with WYF’s international participants. In total, 90 clubs are going to be created in all the regions of Russia and in the federal territory “Sirius”. Created within the Peoples’ Friendship Centre of the Belgorod State National Research University, the Belgorod Club became the eighth, after such clubs opened in Astrakhan, Vladimir, Lipetsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Tyumen regions, and the Mari El Republic.

Five Belgorod institutes and universities have joined the initiative of BelSU: Belgorod State Technological University named after V. Shukhov, Belgorod State Institute of Arts and Culture, Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics & Law, Belgorod State Agricultural University named after V. Gorin and the Stary Oskol Geological Prospecting Institute – a branch of the Russian State University for the Humanities named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze.

As Olga Lyutova, Director of the BelSU International Information Centre, explained, the International Friendship Club is a permanent platform for communication between the young people from other countries and Russia. The clubs’ participants are going to develop cultural and educational exchange, create and implement joint projects in science, culture, education and sports.

At the opening, the Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs of the Belgorod Region – a BelSU graduate Yulia Lipovchenko and Natalia Zhukovskaya, the Director of the BelSU Department of International Cooperation, welcomed the club participants from Russia, Morocco, Egypt, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ecuador, Colombia, Haiti, Paraguay, Jordan, Iraq, Nigeria, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Senegal, Togo, and Namibia. In her turn, Arina Shestakova, the leader of the International Student Club, greeted the speakers,

‘We want the Club to become a space of friendship, communication, cooperation, and, of course, a place where new ideas for the common good are born and brought to life!’ Arina emphasized.