Young Intellectuals Club in Yerevan

From February 29th to March 1st, Yerevan hosted the first meeting of the Young Intellectuals Club of the Commonwealth countries. According to organizers, the project is aimed at the formation of discussion platforms for the development of professional contacts between young professionals in the humanities from the CIS states. During 2016, meetings of the Club will also be held in Baku, Moscow and Astana.

The first meeting was attended by young political scientists, historians, sociologists, journalists and experts in the field of international relations from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia. Among the topics discussed on the agenda were informational security, the impact of the economic crisis on the EEU countries, coverage of integration processes in the media and regional conflicts.

An important issue on the agenda of the EEU countries was the economic crisis and its impact on the national economies. Leading researcher of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Science, head of the Department of Economic Research, Doctor of Economics, Professor Aza Mihranyan, believes that each country reacts to economic crises in its own way, depending on the structure of the economy and external factors. Crises, even though they create difficulties, they do not reduce the importance of integration. "It all depends on how each country uses the opportunities offered by integration," Mihranyan noted. According to her, it is necessary to say "stop" to the process of lawmaking and instead create institutions that will deal with the implementation of already reached agreements.

Information flows have a considerable influence on the public reaction to crises and integration processes. During the conference, issues concerning internet security, methods of influencing users, as well as informational wars were discussed.

Director General of the 'Personalinvest' company, Elena Larina, pointed out the main trends in the dissemination of information on the internet, special attention was paid to the methods of psychological influence on users. As Larina noted, the amount of video content on the internet has increased dramatically, and behavioral methods of work with the audience are used more than before.

Chairman of the Board of the Agency of International Information 'Novosti-Armenia', Konstantin Petrosov, spoke about the main trends in the Armenian media and the problems of EEU countries' cooperation in the information space. Among the main trends, he noted the influence of Western funds on a youth more active on social networks and some of the media that spread anti-Russian information. On the other hand, cooperation of media of the EEU countries is poorly developed and they have little content which contains positive information about Russia and the EEU. Petrosov stressed the need for a broader information presence of the EEU in Armenia.

Expert of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs Sergey Markedonov noted that the problem of Russian information policy lies in the fact that it is oriented towards the past. "Actualization should be aimed at the future and based on pragmatism," Markedonov noted.

The project also included a roundtable discussion 'Education in Commonwealth Countries. Problems, Priorities, Prospects.' The event was held within the framework of the Year of Education, announced after a meeting of the Council of Heads of CIS member states.

In cooperation with the Armenian Experts Association of the intellectual television show 'What? Where? When?', intellectual games and quizzes were held: '25 years of the CIS' - in connection with the forthcoming anniversary of the Commonwealth, as well as 'Such General Cinema' in the framework of the Year of Russian Cinema.

An important part of the program was the presentation and defense of the projects of participants of the Club on the topic: "Points of economic growth in current geopolitical and regional processes." Each of the two teams, which took part in the defense of projects, offered a unique business plan that would allow to realize the idea of a single project. It must be in demand both among ordinary people and the leaderships of Commonwealth member states. The idea of one of the final events in the framework of Club meeting was aimed at the development of the creative skills of participants and the practical use of the skills acquired by them in the discussion about integration in the former Soviet Union.

A participant from Tajikistan, project assistant of the military-political department of the OSCE Office Manuchher Salohudinov, shared his impressions from projects with the 'Commonwealth' Press Club. "The process of Eurasian integration is primarily a process of economic integration. Discussion of our projects showed that there are specific aspects in the post-Soviet space on which we can develop cooperation. Such projects are the personification of the success of integration in the former Soviet Union. If they will be implemented, it will be an indicator of success of the idea of the Eurasian Economic Union. "

The project is organized by the Russian Political Science Center 'North-South' for the development of information and scientific relations with foreign countries, with the support of the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of CIS member states.