Korotchenko: Caspian region of key importance now

The Caspian region is of key importance at the present time, primarily in terms of transport logistics, ensuring exports and imports for the Russian economy, Director-General of the Caspian Institute for Strategic Studies (Russia) Igor Korotchenko said.

He was speaking at the plenary session “New Opportunities and Priorities for Sustainable Development of the Caspian Region” within the III International Scientific Forum “Caspian 2023: Ways of Sustainable Development,” Report informs.

“The North-South transport corridor is the basis for the sustainable development of the Russian economy,” he said.

The moderator of the event, Evgeny Szhenov, noted that the Caspian region is one of the most central places on the planet today in terms of the relevance of politics. “The actualization of our discussion is regularly fueled by large meetings held by the president of Russia. A very recent conversation at a forum in Moscow, before that in Bishkek, about the relevance of the North-South transport corridor, and other logistical issues. All this, without a doubt, concerns not only technologies, not only infrastructure, but of course also education, the development of cooperation in science. And separately, I would like to note cooperation in the field of youth policy,” he said, reminding that the Russian-Azerbaijani forum had recently taken place, and Astrakhan University is actively cooperating with universities Azerbaijan.

“We are located in a border region, in a region where all areas interact very actively with each other. The Caspian region has become a hub for cooperation between several friendly countries. I like that the Caspian Forum time after time gives meaning, which then our colleagues from federal and regional bodies of the executive power include in their work,” he added.

Pavel Shevtsov, deputy head of Rossotrudnichestvo (The Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation), noted that the Caspian region is not only the concentration of five countries, but also attracts many world players, including China and European countries. “In order to expand humanitarian cooperation, we need to work out with partners priority points for the development of the economies of the countries of the region for 5-10 years ahead. When we analytically understand where the Caspian region is moving in terms of education, economic development, environmental problems, we will be able to offer specific educational and scientific programs,” he said.

The rector of Astrakhan State University named after V.N. Tatishchev Konstantin Markelov shared his expectations from participation in the International Scientific Forum “Caspian 2023: Ways of Sustainable Development.” He noted that due to the development of human resources, infrastructure projects, an impetus could be given to the further development of technologies and various new directions. “Today the Caspian region is some indicator of sustainable development,” he said.

President of the Southern Federal University, Marina Borovskaya, in turn, noted that “we are now in a digital economy, and we must understand how we begin to form projects, priorities, the effectiveness of development interaction from this huge array of knowledge and, moving to a knowledge economy, we must change student community mindset.” “The knowledge economy allows us not to alienate our knowledge, but by transferring it, to strengthen the community and these important principles should form the goals of sustainable development. And then the 2030 horizon, which we have taken as a basis for ourselves, will help us support this forward movement,” she added.