Peter the Great Readings Strengthen Interinstitutional Cooperation

Astrakhan State University has kicked start to the 3rd All-Russia scientific conference "Peter the Great Readings in Astrakhan". This year, the conference is dedicated to the development of the Caspian region and is confined to the centenary of the establishment of the first Astrakhan university.

Leading experts from Astrakhan, Volgograd, Orenburg, Elista and other Russian cities have gathered to discuss environmental, economic and social aspects of the topic under consideration. The programme also includes speeches of our colleagues from neighboring Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Konstantin Markelov, the ASU Acting Rector, was the first to welcome the participants of the scientific meeting. He stressed the role of such events for the interinstitutional development, especially at the present time, when our region has taken on special strategic importance after the signing of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea.

The conference aims at lifting the veil from many secrets of the development of higher education in Astrakhan. Vitaly Gutman, the Acting Minister of Education and Science of Astrakhan region, thanked the participants for the important work, conducted by them in this sphere.

The conference programme includes various important topics and urgent reports. The plenary session unveiled some pages of the history of the Astrakhan scientific thought, dwelled on the first steps of higher education in the region and the foundation of the museum-preserve.

Next sessions will be dedicated to the history and culture of the Caspian peoples, cooperation of the Caspian states in the economic sphere and solutions to environmental problems, as well as the educational sphere development.