• Start date:  24.02.2021
• End date:  24.02.2021
• RU:  Видеоконференция сопредседателей Сочинского диалога Андрея Фурсенко и Кристофа Ляйтля
• DE:  Videokonferenz mit den Ko-Vorsitzenden des Sotschi-Dialogs Andrej Fursenko und Christoph Leitl
• Status: Completed

On February 24, 2021, the co-chairs of the Russian-Austrian Civil Society Forum "Sochi Dialogue", Andrey Fursenko and Christoph Leitl, met online. During the videoconference, the Co-Chairs positively assessed the work of the Sochi Dialogue in 2020, and also approved the action plan for 2021.

The Sochi Dialogue will continue its activities in such areas as cultural and historical heritage, sports, science and education. Thus, the following online events received support: video conferences on history and culture "Austria-Russia. The legacy and traces of empires in East-Central Europe" and "The power of art - including and particularly in times of crisis", which will be held on March 23 and April 23, respectively, as well as the FIFA esports event "Dialog ECup 2021".

The first full-time event this year in Russia will be the presentation of a course of lectures on the history of Austria on the educational platform Coursera, which is planned to be held in March 2021 at MGIMO University. Andrey Fursenko noted the importance of understanding the history and studying the historical heritage of our countries both among the younger generation and among the academic community. He stressed that the Sochi Dialogue also plans to organize a series of lectures by Reinhard Otto and Rolf Keller, authors of the book "Soviet prisoners of war in the German concentration camp system" in September 2021 in Russian universities, provided that the epidemiological situation is favorable.

The Co-Chairs expressed hope that face-to-face meetings will also be possible this year. The Sochi Dialogue plans to combine its efforts with similar civil society forums (St. Petersburg, Trianon and Italian) to hold joint events of various formats. The Sochi Dialogue will also take an active part in the traditional Salzburg Festival, within the framework of which it is planned to hold a round table "International Dimension: Tourism Networking", which was initially scheduled for 2020 and which has aroused great interest among the initiative groups of our countries.

Andrey Fursenko stressed the urgency of the issue of ecology and climate change and suggested organizing an international environmental conference at the Sirius Educational Center in Sochi.