Republic

The agitation cycle race “Youth of Russia and Belarus – a way to the future of the Union State” will be held in summer 2008. The 700-kilometer race will span across four regions of Belarus and Russia (the Vitebsk, Mogilev, Smolensk and Pskov oblasts), BelTA learnt from the Belarusian Education Ministry. The cycle race was organized by the Permanent Committee of the Union State. During the race, its participants will meet with war veterans, take part in various sports competitions and roundtables devoted to the issues dealing with the cooperation of the youth of both the states. According to specialists of the Education Ministry, recently the Belarusian-Russian relations in educational sphere have been intensified significantly. The Council of Ministers of the Union State passed a decision to hold a gathering of students of the Union State in the Vitebsk oblast of Belarus and also the academic excellence contest “Russia and Belarus: historical and spiritual community” (on the base of Belgorod State Technological University). In 2008, gathering of young ecologists of Russia and Belarus “Ecology without Borders” (in National Reserve Kurshskaya Kosa in the Kaliningrad oblast) and a civic-patriotic gathering of students of military colleges of Belarus and Russia (in Belarus’ National Health Center “Zubrionok”) are expected to be financed from Union’s budget. More than 60 educational establishments of Belarus cooperate with educational establishments of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Smolensk, Nizhniy Novgorod, Volgograd, Petrozavodsk, Bryansk, Ryazan, Kaliningrad and others. Almost all Belarusian universities cooperate with Russian universities within the framework of the joint scientific agreements and programmes. The two countries concluded more than 300 agreements on cooperation in educational sphere. The agreements guarantee the equal rights for the citizens of both the states to get qualitative education on the territory of Belarus and Russia. The sides concluded 269 agreements on cooperation between universities. In 2006-2007, around 2 thousand Russian students attended Belarusian universities, more than 10 thousand Belarusian students attended universities of the Russian Federation. Belarusian-Russian University (Mogilev), a branch of Moscow State University of Economy, Statistics and Computer Science and a branch of Russian State Social University function in Belarus. According to the Belarusian Educational Ministry, in 2007 a number of events for children and students were held at the expense of Union’s budget. These are a contest of research works of students of secondary schools of Belarus and Russia in Polotsk, a tourist gathering in the Pskov oblast of Russia, the Days of Education of the Republic of Belarus, academic excellence contests, exhibitions of scientific-technical developments in Nizhniy Novgorod and St. Petersburg, tourist gatherings and patriotic actions with the participation of children and war veterans of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Smolensk, Bryansk and all the regions of Belarus, international festival of youth initiatives “Open project – youth cooperation” with the participation of teams of various regions of the Russian Federation and others.