In late June, the Taipei-Moscow Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission (TMECC) invited a delegation from the Eurasian Club System (ECS), a Russian non-government organization (NGO), to share details of an ECS delegation’s visit to Taiwan from January 27 to February 8 this year. The event was attended by approximately 50 people, including TMECCC staff, Russian student recipients of a Taiwan Scholarship or Huayu Enrichment Scholarship sponsored by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China, Mandarin Chinese teachers from Taiwan, local reporters, and Russian students, graduates, and teachers who were interested in studying or doing an internship in Taiwan.

Marat Shafigullin, the president of ECS, said that the group had visited local universities, governmental agencies, including the Youth Development Administration (YDA) of Taiwan’s Ministry of Education, and several companies and enterprises, and was deeply impressed by the living history and high technology of the island, and its combination of Chinese culture and Western democracy. He also mentioned that the YDA has invited ECS to participate in the annual Global Youth Trends Forum scheduled for November 3 and 4, this year. This is the first time that the Russian youth group has been invited to take part in this event.

William Lu, Secretary of the Education Division of TMECCC then gave an outline of the current range of academic exchanges between Taiwan and Russia, and information about the scholarships and grants available from the Taiwanese government and academic institutions. His presentation received a warm response.

The Eurasian Club System is a non-profit non-governmental organization in the Russian Federation that works to create a platform of economic, political, cultural, and educational cooperation for youth in the CIS region and APEC economies. It focuses on interaction between young diplomats and students and looks forward to developing such cooperation with Taiwan.

Photo:Marat Shafigullin, president of ECS, speaking about visiting Taiwan, with (from left): William Lu, Secretary of the Education Division of TMECCC; Fu Chao-Ming, Director of the Science and Technology Division of TMECCC; Chang Yu-Lin, Director of the Economic Division of TMECCC; Keng Chung-Yung, the acting head of TMECCC; and Mark Osotov, Director of Development and Co-Founder at ECS.