Russian Foreign Ministry Approves ASU Work with International Partners

During the visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the delegation of Astrakhan State University, headed by Acting Rector Konstantin Markelov, met with heads of a number of departments and supervisors of Russia’s cooperation with key states with which ASU has long-term partnership.

For example, the delegation had quite a fruitful meeting with Aleksandr Kozlov, the Head of the Indian Unit of the Second Asian Department and an expert in Indian issues. He supported with pleasure the university’s initiatives on cooperation with this country. It was particularly stressed that the agreements, reached by ASU with its Indian partners, will be included into the global agenda of cooperation between Russia and India.

A conversation with Rafael Gevorkyan, the Head of the Iranian Unit of the Second Asian Department and the Advisor of the Office of the Russian High Representative on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, was very constructive as well. By the way, ASU alumnus Ruslan Ilmambetov works in this unit and is commended by his colleagues.

At the meeting, the parties discussed full cooperation of Astrakhan State University with Iran. They agreed on a possibility to organize traineeships for BA and MA students at the MFA with further employment prospects. The Astrakhan delegation also enlisted the Iranian Unit support in increasing partnership with Iranian universities.

Another meeting was held with Dmitry Shtodin, the Deputy Director of the First European Department and the Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the second class, who supervises cooperation with Italy in the MFA Russia and is an expert in Italian issues. He promised to give support in establishing contacts with the Italian Embassy in the Russian Federation. The Department is also ready to organize traineeships for ASU students, alumni and teachers who know Italian. It should be noted that ASU is one of few Russian universities with such a great number of ongoing Italian projects — this is the partnership with leading universities, Erasmus+ grant programmes, exchange programmes and joint defense of graduation theses.