IAPDE Celebrates the UN International Day of Peace

The International Association of Public Diplomacy Experts participated as a partner in the international roundtable "Public Diplomacy: Partnership for Peace and Harmony," an event promoting the UN, which took place on September 23, 2024, on the occasion of the International Day of Peace sanctioned by the UN and UNESCO. The roundtable was held on the initiative of the Eurasian and African Peoples’ Assembly and with the support of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

The participants greeted the message from UN Secretary-General António Guterres on this commemorative date with applause.

More than 100 people attended this significant international event aimed at strengthening the potential of people-to-people diplomacy as a catalyst for the movement for peace and cooperation in Eurasia and Africa, particularly based on UN resolutions for the protection of international peace. Attendees included around 20 heads of diplomatic missions, representatives of government bodies, international and public organizations, and prominent public figures from Eurasian and African countries, as well as students from five leading Russian universities. IAPDE President A.M. Khachatryan was accompanied at the event by vice presidents and members of the Association.

During this first joint event, a Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Eurasian and African Peoples’ Assembly and IAPDE. The Secretary General of the Eurasian and African Peoples’ Assembly, A.Yu. Belyaninov, signed the Agreement on behalf of the Assembly, while President A.M. Khachatryan signed it on behalf the Association.

The Agreement aims to establish and develop a "unified international space of consensus in the field of public diplomacy, while providing each other with broader support through the unique integration potential of people-to-people diplomacy, a system of equal international partnership, experience exchange, and dialogue." The parties also attach "significant importance to the development of international

communication platforms in order to establish and maintain mutually beneficial cooperation in scientific, technical, investment, cultural, and other spheres among organizations and companies from Greater Eurasia and Africa."

As a representative of IAPDE, D.V. Mnatsakanyan, Chief Advisor to the President of IAPDE, Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia, composer, Honorary member of the Board of trustees of St. Petersburg Union of Composers, member of the Organising Committee of the International project “Musicians for Peace”, Ambassador for Peace of the Association of Laureates of the International Tchaikovsky Competition also spoke at the event.

He presented the Secretary General of the Assembly with his new book “My Way.”