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Message from Alexander Avdeyev,
Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation,
to the participants of the 2 nd International Conference
“Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace”
On behalf of Russia’s Culture Ministry, I extend a warm welcome to all
delegates attending our second “Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in
Cyberspace” conference.
In UNESCO’s 2001 Universal Declaration, cultural diversity is viewed as
part of the humankind’s heritage. Linguistic diversity is what forms the basis
of cultural diversity. Languages are crucial to progressing toward sustainable
development, given their key role in providing quality education, spreading
knowledge, and stimulating social integration and economic development.
This is why the theme of this conference is of so much relevance to the world
community as a whole and particularly to Russia, which is one of the most
multi-ethnic, multi-faith and multilingual countries, with as many as 180
languages spoken here and nearly 40 indigenous languages enjoying official
language status. The Russian Constitution proclaims that the languages
spoken by the country’s constituent communities are all part of the national
cultural heritage.
This forum is being held within the framework of Russia’s chairmanship in the
Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Information for All Programme.
I would like to thank all of the event’s organizers, notably the government of
the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the North-Eastern Federal University, the
Russian Committee of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Information for
All Programme (IFAP), the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre,the
National Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, the MAAYA
World Network for Linguistic Diversity, the Latin Union, and, of course,
UNESCO itself.
We are happy about Russian IFAP Committee working in partnership
with the Ministry of Culture and the Federal Agency for Press and Mass
Communications to enhance the programme and further raise its efficiency.
We are also glad that our joint efforts to promote linguistic and cultural
diversity – both in the real world and on the Web – keep gaining momentum.
The first conference “Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace”, held
in Yakutsk in 2008, was attended by politicians and experts representing
15 countries from all around the globe. The lineup of this year’s gathering
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