The IX BRICS Civil Forum was held in Moscow on July 3-4. The event, under the motto "Strengthening Multilateralism for Equitable Global Development and Security", gathered more than 650 delegates from 20 participating countries and invited states. During the business program, the participants of the working group of the forum "Culture, Sports and Tourism", including experts from the Russian Geographical Society, discussed the prospects for the development of sustainable tourism in the countries of the group.
The RGS has been successfully cooperating with the BRICS countries in terms of tourism and expeditions for many years. Among the large-scale joint projects are the Russian-Chinese expedition along the route of Vladimir Obruchev to Lanzhou (Central China), the round-the-world expedition of the Tomsk Branch of the RGS along the routes of Russian navigators, the complex expedition of the RGS in India, the Youth Club of the RGS in Egypt. Today, in the light of new initiatives to strengthen friendly ties between the peoples of the BRICS countries, the Russian Geographical Society proposes to open new expedition and tourist centers of the RGS in the countries of the group.
In preparation for the Civil Forum, nine working groups have been set up to develop recommendations for the leaders of the BRICS countries. The working group "Culture, Sports and Tourism" discussed its proposals at the session "Cultural Bridges of BRICS Countries". The main message of the meeting was the formation of new inter-social associations. Despite their unique cultural identity, the BRICS countries have deep historical ties and distinctive moral and spiritual values. The expansion of forms of cultural exchange between our countries, including sports and tourism, requires building new "bridges".
This was told by Natalya Belyakova, Director of the Expeditionary and Tourism Development Department.
“Long ago, Lao Tzu noticed that soft and weak defeats strong but rigid. This is true for our time. Today, thanks to public diplomacy, we are building new cultural bridges within the BRICS, contributing to mutual knowledge of the participating countries," she stressed. “Any bridge must have strong supports. This function is successfully performed, among other things, by joint scientific research during international expeditions, as well as cross-border routes of responsible tourism. The Russian Geographical Society is one of the leaders of the agenda here. We are ready to take an active part in the practical implementation of the relevant paragraphs of the forum resolution. A reliable bridge should have not only strong verticals, but also strong horizontals – connections between scientific, public, and business institutions of the BRICS countries. We can take part in the creation of such links through the RGS expedition and tourist centers abroad, which we are ready to open. Thanks to them, we can design and launch cross-border tours, such as the expedition trip of the RGS from the Arctic to Indonesia, where tourists participate in the work of professional ethnographers.”
The RGS expedition and tourism centers in the BRICS countries will be aimed at popularizing the geographical, historical, and cultural heritage of Russia. With their help, it is possible to establish long-term ties with scientific organizations and educational institutions abroad, attract the tourist flow of foreign citizens to Russia, it also gives the opportunity for foreign citizens to participate in scientific research, expedition, tourism, and public activities of the RGS.
“Multinational tourism projects are based on the principles of soft diplomacy and allow building more flexible horizontal ties between countries than official diplomatic cycles. The original BRICS civilization states, referring to the common historical memory – the expeditions of great travelers of the past such as Ivan Kruzenshtern and Yuri Lisyansky, Nikolai Miklukho-Maklai and Nikolai Przhevalsky – must create their future together, preserving their identity in a rapidly changing world," Natalya Belyakova summarized.