YEREVAN, MAY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. The 22nd sitting of the Council for Cultural Coopration of CIS Countries took place in Minsk on May 21. Ministers of culture - members of the Council, ambassadors of CIS countries and representtaives of the diplomatic corps participated in the sitting. According to the press service of the RA Ministry of Culture and Youth Issues, a number of cultural issues were discussed at the sitting, particularly, issues related to national legislations and conventions in the UNESCO cultural heritage preservation field, the necessity to create an association of musical higer educational institutions of CIS countries, the programs on implementation of the Agreement on Humanitarian Cooperation of CIS Member States, etc. The Republic of Armenia in the person of the RA Minister of Culture and Youth Issues Hasmik Poghosian presented the program and goal of the forum "Translation as Attractive Field for Interpenetration of Cultures" to be held in Yerevan on October 3-6 with the participation of CIS and Baltic countries. The traditional literary links among CIS countries have always been conducive to mutual understanding of their peoples. However, recently the mutual links and relations have weakened in all spheres, including literature. In order to overcome this situation, Armenia has proposed organizing the above mentioned forum, which will bring together publishers, translators, representatives of state bodies organizing the sphere of literature, as well as heads of universities preparing translators from CIS and Baltic states. The forum will proceed in parallel with Holiday of Translators held in Armenia every year. After the Minsk sitting, Hasmik Poghosian met in Moscow with the Head of the RF Culture and Cinema Agency M. Shvydkoy. During the meeting, the sides addressed various issues of Russian-Armenian cultural cooperation such as joint film production, mutual visits and cooperation of producers, participation of the Armenian side in Moscow film festivals, programs on training of experts in music and dramatic art, as well as provisions of the program of preparatory work on holding Cultural Days of Russia in Armenia in 2008.

---