Trianon Week in France

25 November 2019

November 11th-16th, the “Trianon Days”, a number of events organized in the framework of the Russian-French civil society forum the Trianon dialogue, were held in Paris.

The opening session of the Trianon Dialogue meetings featured the choir musicaeterna byzantina conducted by the tenor Antonios Koutroupis with Adrian Sirbu as soloist. The choir has for artistic Director Theodor Currentzis. The ancient Church of Saint-Louis-en-L'Isle, recognized as a monument of France’s national heritage, hosted the event. "We are starting the Trianon Days in an important place" noted MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov, also Co-chair of The Trianon dialogue. "This concert unfolding in one of the oldest churches in Paris reminds us about the unique role played by spirituality, culture and art in the life of a community."

During the first expert meeting, on November 12^th at the HEIP School of International Relations, participants discussed "the 30^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Results and prospects". Among those who attended the event, the President of the World Russian Press Foundation V.Ignatenko, the Professor at Columbia University R.Legvold, the Executive Secretary of the "Trianon dialogue" A.Orlov, the former Foreign Minister of Poland, Co-chairman of the Russian-Polish Group on Complex Issues A.Rothfeld, the Director of Strategy at Kommersant, Editor of the newspaper "Petersburg dialogue" V.Loshak, the Deputy Director of the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Harmony L.Adamski, the Vice-Rector of MGIMO A.Malgin. Discussions were moderated by the Director and Founder of the Institute of Open Diplomacy T.Friang.

On the same day, Trianon events part of the Paris Peace Forum started their work. In the morning, a plenary session involving the heads of state was attended MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov.

The program of the forum comprised a master class, during which the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave a talk. The session had for speakers the Russian Ambassador to France A.Meshkov, the Rector of MGIMO University A.Torkunov, the First Deputy Director General of TASS M.Gusman, the Vice-President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, also Vice-President of the Organizing Committee of the Paris Peace Forum I.Jurgens and the Presidential Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs’ Rights B.Titov.

A myriad of different projects were presented during the Peace Forum. After a series of meetings and seminars, the organizers chose ten projects, which will be granted international financial support. In all, 114 out of 700 projects submitted by nationals of over 100 countries were admitted to this stage of the competition. The Trianon dialogue project "Art of Dialogue. Dialogue of Arts" was among those selected. It has for goal to develop culture as a tool able to reflect political trends and expose current problems, and expand the interaction between different countries and peoples, first of all between Russia and France.

A round table dedicated to this project took place with the participation of the French Minister of Culture F.Riester, the Director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts M.Loshak, the Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development of the UAE Noura Al Kaabi and the famous collector T.Kaplan.

November 12^th, the Trianon dialogue’s project "Dear Tomorrow" was formally launched at the Paris Centre of Science and Industry. The initiative allows students from the two countries to compete for the title of the best writer on human interaction with new technologies in the future. The opening ceremony of the project was attended by the First Russian Deputy Minister of Education P.Zenkovich, the Deputy Head of the General Directorate of School Education under the Ministry of National Education of France X.Tiuron, the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media V.Grigoriev, and the President of the French Institute, French Ambassador for Foreign Cultural Activities P.Buhler.

The cultural program continued on Tuesday evening at the Russian Spiritual and Cultural Center with the European premiere of M.Guzman's film dedicated to the remarkable French politician Jacques Chirac, who was President of France from 1995 to 2007. Its creator commented that the film is about a great Frenchman, an outstanding statesman who passed away at the end of September. During the evening the audience also viewed a documentary film on the University released on the First channel on the occasion of the 75^th anniversary of the University.

November 13^th, the Paris Peace Forum hosted a round table devoted to the 30^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, during which there was a vivid discussion of the implications of German unification for Europe and the world.

The session was attended by the Advisor to Francois Mitterrand and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of France H.Vedrine, the Press Secretary of the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev A.Grachev, the Director of the German Council on Foreign Relations D.Schwarzer, the Japanese Ambassador to Singapore Y.Suzuki. The Director of IFRI T.Gomart acted as the moderator of the session.

That same day, the Russian Center of Science and Culture launched the first Salon of Siberian Education, also under the auspices of the Trianon dialogue. Among those present at the opening ceremony were the Russian Ambassador to France A.Meshkov, MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov, the Rector of Tomsk State University E.Galazhinsky, the Deputy Director General for the Expansion of French Higher Education Abroad and International Student Mobility of Campus France A.Ilin.

The next day, the Salon of Siberian Education continued at the national agency CampusFrance, where the X international conference "Cooperation with French Universities: Problems and Solutions" unfolded. The Head of the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre V.Fedorov presented during the session the results of a study on how France is perceived by Russian youngsters through the prism of education. The Director of the center of urbanism "City" A.Raskhodchikov gave a talk about the Trianon Dialogue’s competition of young architects.

The central event of the “Trianon Days” was the meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Trianon Dialogue at the French Foreign Ministry, which was kicked off by the Co-chairs of the Trianon dialogue, MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov and the Ambassador, Special Representative of the French President P.Morel.

During the meeting, the sides reviewed the preliminary results of the Trianon dialogue in 2019, which was devoted to "Education and Enlightenment". The guest of honour at the event was the Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia M.Kotyukov, who spoke about the priorities in Russian-French cooperation in the fields of education and science and about upcoming projects.

Participants on the Russian side included the General Director of the Mosfilm K.Shakhnazarov, the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Media and Mass communications V.Grigoryev, the Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs’ Rights B.Titov, the Head of Department at Moscow State University V.Yakunin, the Director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, M.Loshak and others.

Among the French participants were the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Total P.Pouyanne, the Permanent Secretary of the French Academy of Sciences K.Brechignac, the President of the State Palace and Park complex of Versailles C.Pegard, the former French Minister of Science and Technology C.Haignere and others. The meeting participants mulled over the main directions for the forum’s work next year, which will be devoted to "Climate and the Environment". Proposals for activities and projects for 2020 were given the go-ahead and an updated version of the Trianon dialogue digital platform was revealed to the members of the coordinating Council.

Later, the Choiseul Institute organized some activities in the framework of the return trip to Paris of the participants of the list "Choiseul 100 Russia". November 13^th in the evening, during a reception at the Ritz, the President of the Choiseul Institute P. Lorot, the French Deputy Foreign Minister J-B.Lemoine, MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov and the Russian Deputy Minister for Energy P.Sorokin all addressed the guests.

The following day, the participants were taken on a tour of both houses of the French Parliament: the National Assembly and the Senate. The guests were greeted the Prime Minister, Senator, and the Chairman of the France-Russia Interparliamentary group G.Longuet, the Deputy of the National Assembly of France, Chairman of the France-Russia Friendship Group K.Janvier and the Deputy Chairman of the French National Assembly A.Genevard. The Deputy Minister for Economic Development of Russia, MGIMO graduate A.Talybov spoke about mutual trade and investments, the Deputy Minister for Energy of Russia P. Sorokin gave a speech about cooperation in the sphere of energy. Participants were also taken to visit the startup incubator Station F, a Dior boutique, and attended a number of meetings.

The main objective of the project "Choiseul 100 Russia" is to create contacts and encourage Russian economic leaders to share best practices with their foreign counterparts, who made it to the top of a similar rating in France. The project is organized by the Choiseul Institute with the support of Sberbank and in the framework of the Trianon Dialogue.

The list of "Choiseul 100 Russia" includes intelligent and talented people under the age of forty, who contribute to the modernization of their country's economy. Among those attending were a member of the Board of Directors of Transoil K.Frank, the Vice-President of Evraz Y.Stanyulenko, a member of the Board and managing partner of Sistema M.Yanpolsky, the First Vice-President of Tashir group T.Karapetyan, the President-Chairman of the Board of Finam group V.Kochetkov, the Senior Vice-President for Information Technologies of Rostelecom K.Menshov, the Director of the Center for the Promising Business Areas of Sberbank A.Kartashyan, the Deputy Chairman of the government and Minister of economic development of the Tula region government G.Lavrukhin, the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the government of the Kaluga Region V.Antokhina, the MGIMO graduate chief designer, founder of the brand for Zasport A.Zadorina, the founder and CEO of Future Tech Lab M.Duma, the Deputy CEO of Alfa-Capital E.Zhivov, the founder and CEO of Triton Bikes D.Nechaev, the Director of MGIMO’s Endowment M.Petrova. The project is sponsored by Sberbank and Total.

During the Trianon Days in Paris, MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov and the Vice-Rector A.Malgin has a meeting with Sanofi Vice-President O.Sharmey, HEC university and the National Academy of Arts and Crafts. The sides discussed bilateral cooperation and the participation of partners in Trianon events.

MGIMO student volunteers took part in the organization and work of the "Trianon week" events. Other upcoming events of the Trianon agenda include the Russian-French seminar on Linguistics at Moscow State University which will be attended by the Special Representative of France for the promotion of the French language (10^th-11^th December), the Conference on Higher Education in the field of Railway Transport in Paris (10^th -12^th December), the meeting of French startups with Russian companies at the Moscow Pushkin State Museum of fine arts (February 3^rd).

— See the MGIMO web-site for russian version