5th conference of Russian compatriots in China opens in Beijing

BEIJING (Itar-Tass) - A 5th conference of Russian
compatriots, who live in China, will open at the Russian Cultural Center
here on Thursday. The conference will be devoted to the consolidation,
coordination and social responsibility of Russian business in China and
Russian compatriots in the country. Representatives of Russian diplomatic,
business and public circles will participate in the conference.
"The participants in a two-day conference will be able to discuss the
most pressing problems and to share the experience in business cooperation
with Chinese colleagues," the chief of the Federal Agency for the Affairs
of the CIS, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian
Cooperation Farit Mukhametshin, who delivered a report at the conference,
told Itar-Tass. "Our meeting will help coordinate and make trade and
economic and cultural activities of our compatriots in China more
fruitful," he said.
"Various cultural events, which are held in China, are playing a major
role in the consolidation and orchestration of the actions of
compatriots," Mukhametshin said. "We cannot but state the active
participation of Russian citizens, who live in China, in a 12th congress
of the International Association of Russian Language and Literature
Teachers (MAPRYAL), which opened in Shanghai on Wednesday. The congress
discussed the problems of teaching the Russian language as the foreign
language and the popularization in the Russian culture in the world," he
pointed out.
On the first day of the conference the participants exchanged views on
the difficulties, which Russian citizens running business in China are
facing. The participants also discussed the experience of cooperation
between Russian business people and public unions of Russian compatriots
operating in China.
The Coordinating Council of Compatriots in China, the Federal Agency
for the Affairs of the CIS, Compatriots Living Abroad and International
Humanitarian Cooperation, the Russian Embassy in China and the Russian
Cultural Center in Beijing organized the conference.