Margarita Rusetskaya: Russian language promotes strong relations between Russia and Azerbaijan

Rector of Pushkin State Russian Language Institute Margarita Rusetskaya told Vestnik Kavkaza about efforts to support the Russian language in Azerbaijan.

"At the recent Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum's plenary meeting, which was attended by Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko and First Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, the issues of humanitarian cooperation and language were discussed among other things. Mehriban Aliyeva said that traditionally the Russian language occupies strong, important place in all schools in Azerbaijan: education in 380 schools is conducted in Russian, state universities have Russian-language departments," she noted in the first place.

"All this ensures strong relations between our countries, regardless of the political context and the global situation. Moreover, joint economic projects, overall economic cooperation strengthen contacts and, through communication, develop the Russian language as business language between our countries," the rector of Pushkin State Russian Language Institute stressed.

"Pushkin State Russian Language Institute has been invited as an expert to working groups under the Russian-Azerbaijani Intergovernmental Commission and is authorized, together with the relevant bodies of Russia and Azerbaijan, to develop a program to support the Russian language in Azerbaijan at all educational levels, as well as to prepare an action plan to organize advanced training for teaching staff, taking into account the needs of the Azerbaijani side," Margarita Rusetskaya said.

"For us, as the basic Russian language teaching organization in the former Soviet countries, it is extremely important and responsible. We assume not only scientific and methodological cooperation, but also youth and humanitarian cooperation, an example of which is the exchange of youth expeditions, including the implementation of the 'Russian Language Ambassadors in the World' program," the rector of Pushkin State Russian Language Institute added