Russia intends to promote exchanges with China and India

New Delhi: Russia hopes to develop cultural ties, including inter-museum exchanges with China, which has been waiting for opportunities to introduce Russian culture to its general public as well as with India, Special Representative of the Russian President for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy told Russian journalists on Tuesday.

“When we are talking about a ‘turn to the East,’ this is not a shift in terms of values, but a geographical one. And when we are ‘turning’ towards the East, the East ‘turns’ towards the West, that is, towards Russia,” he said, expressing hope for active development of ties with China in 2023, which are currently hindered by the pandemic. “I hope that in 2023, China will ‘open up.’ I think the Chinese are waiting for this, including the inter-museum exchanges,” he said.

Additionally, he noted, work is underway on organizing an exchange year with India. The official noted that the issue of developing relations was discussed during a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Samarkand. “An idea was expressed on organizing an exchange year with India – not a cultural year, but an exchange year. Currently, we and our Indian colleagues are trying to work on this, we will see what can be done about this,” the special envoy added.

According to him, the expansion of humanitarian ties is also being discussed with Vietnam with the possible planning of an exchange year in the sphere of science and education.

(Vinayak)