MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st October, 2019) The "Dialogue on the Volga" international public diplomacy forum will start in Russia's hero city of Volgograd on Thursday, gathering many Russian and foreign officials and diplomats.
The event is aimed at facilitating international cooperation and dialogue between Russia and the world. The forum, co-organized by the Russian humanitarian agency of Rossotrudnichestvo, is timed with the World Cities Day, held on October 31 under the UN resolution.
The forum has been conducted in Volgograd annually since 2014. This year, it also marks the 75th anniversary of the twin city friendship between Volgograd and the UK city of Coventry, located in the central county of West Midlands. The two cities bonded back during Word War ll as both suffered atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. Numerous municipalities worldwide followed the example of Coventry and then-Stalingrad, giving impetus to the movement of twin cities.
Linda Bigham, the mayor of Coventry, is expected to take part in the "Dialogue on the Volga" alongside Belgian Ambassador to Russia Jean-Arthur Regibeau, Argentine Ambassador to Russia Ricardo Lagorio, Nigerian Ambassador to Russia Steve Davies Ugbah. The Russian side will be represented by Head of Rossotrudnichestvo Eleonora Mitrofanova and Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of foreign affairs committee of the Russian upper house.
The participants will lay flowers on Thursday at the mass grave of soldiers who died in the defense of Stalingrad. Various roundtables and sessions on the aspects of international relations will follow.
