TV BRICS International Media Network participates in the Hablemos con Rusia public diplomacy programme

The Hablemos con Rusia public diplomacy programme was opened on Tuesday, 15 March, attended by young analysts, diplomats, public figures and journalists from Latin America and Russia.

On the first day, more than 30 Russian and Latin American internationals met in the online space.

The programme was opened by Alexander Shchetinin, Director of the Latin American Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, in his speech he outlined the prospects for cooperation between Russia and Latin American countries in various fields.

"The potential of Russian-Latin American trade is very significant. Therefore, we are interested in developing our cooperation in different directions. We are ready to continue implementing high-tech projects in the region of energy, metallurgy, infrastructure, transport, biotechnologies. We promote communication and dialogue between business communities and invite Latin American entrepreneurs to participate in international forums taking place in Russia, first of all in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum," he said.

"In addition, we support the development of active cooperation through the EEU/EEC with Latin American countries. Cuba has observer status in the union. There are signed cooperation documents between the EEC and Mercosur, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, the Latin American Economic System, the Andean Community, the Central American Economic System", added Shchetinin.

He also raised the topic of cooperation between Russia and Latin American countries in the field of education, noting the growing number of Latin American students studying on Russian government scholarships: "Given the mutual interest in strengthening educational ties, we are determined to work actively on agreements for the mutual recognition of diplomas."

TV BRICS International Projects Manager Anastasia Shishkalova also took part in the programme and spoke about the peculiarities of media cooperation with BRICS and BRICS+ countries, including Latin American media.

"TV BRICS cooperates with BRICS media companies based on the principle of information exchange. It is important to emphasise that we do not create new media in other countries, but integrate our agenda into existing national media, those that are trusted by local viewers. All our content is published in BRICS national languages, which also provides a shorter route to the audience," she stressed.

"TV BRICS works on the principle of an information hub, for example, Brazil's information agenda reaches not only Russia, but also through TV BRICS in the infofield of other BRICS countries (China, India, South Africa). In this way is created a common media space," explains Anastasia Shishkalova.

In addition, the International Project Manager spoke about the growing number of TV BRICS partners among Spanish-speaking Latin American countries and invited all programme participants to work together to create a positive image of the countries and promote the humanitarian agenda in the media space.

The event was organised by the Creative Diplomacy Centre.

Photo: istockphoto.com, Creative Diplomacy Centre