Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 21 August (BelTA) - Belarus has been honored to host the 15th International Congress of Slavists in recognition of certain achievements in the development of the country, President of the International and Belarusian Committees of Slavists, corresponding member of the NAS of Belarus Alexander Lukashanets said at the opening of the congress on 21 August, BelTA learned.

“We have been awarded the right to host the International Congress of Slavists and we view this as recognition of certain achievements in the development of the country,” said Alexander Lukashanets. He also underlined that Belarus highly appreciates the choice of the International Committee of Slavists which was made in 2008 when Minsk was selected as the venue for the next congress. In addition, the representative of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus thanked the congress delegates from non-Slavic countries for the interest in Slavic languages.

Alexander Lukashanets noted that the support of slavistics traditions is relevant today. Among other things this necessity is directly related to a big amount of borrowings in some Slavic languages.

According to the Belarusian representative, slavistics is more than 200 years old. Its congresses have been conducted for more than 80 years. In the 21st century slavistics preserves its place as a separate discipline. Alexander Lukashanets noted that new Slavic states have emerged on the world map over the past decades. The whole Slavic space has extended due to the fact that more native speakers move to non-Slavic countries.

The official opening ceremony of the forum will take place in Minsk on 21 August. The congress will run through 27 August. Partaking in the forum will be over 600 scientists from Austria, Australia, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain, Canada, Lithuania, Russia, France, Switzerland, Japan and other countries.