Participants in the World Congress of Russian Press, held in June 2011 in Kiev and Odessa, drew attention to the interest shown by Ukrainian leaders in the work of the media forum. On the first day of its Kiev part, President Viktor Yanukovych addressed the congress delegates with an assessment of the situation in the country, spoke about the priorities for the development of Ukraine.
President of the World Association of Russian Press (WARP), ITAR-TASS General Director Vitaly Ignatenko praised the congress, which was held in two stages in Kiev and Odessa, as successful. "We have worked fruitfully and successfully," he stressed and added, addressing the delegates of the forum, that "no matter how hard it may be, your work is very useful and promising." Vitaliy Ignatenko thanked his Ukrainian colleagues for their hospitality, as well as for the opportunity to comprehensively discuss the tasks and problems of the world Russian-language press on Ukrainian soil.
During the congress, about 300 delegates from 61 countries discussed a number of important issues, among which were: studying the experience of self-financing of Russian-language media, social media projects, prospects for humanitarian financing from international organizations. Particular attention at the congress was paid to electronic media, the problems of leaving the readership of print media on the Internet, the forms and methods of using the capabilities of the World Wide Web to attract new readers and promote the brand. The portal of Russian compatriots of the Middle East and Africa was represented at the congress by its founder, general director of the Russian Emirates publishing house Sergey Tokarev.
"Our publishing house has been participating in congresses of the Russian press for several years, but today I am taking part in this congress for the first time as a representative of the regional information Internet resource of Russian compatriots, and I am very grateful to the organizers for the invitation and a great opportunity to meet new people and receive invaluable information ", - Sergey Tokarev said in an interview with one of the Ukrainian TV channels. - “Of particular interest to me personally were topics related one way or another to the Internet, in particular, plans to create a news aggregator of WARPs, which would be very useful for both sites of Russian-language publications and sites of organizations of Russian compatriots abroad, including our "www.russiancompatriots.com. By the way, I, as the chairman of the Coordinating Council of the organizations of Russian compatriots in the UAE, were very pleased to see my colleagues among the delegates of the congress - representatives of the coordination councils from other countries."
For reference, congresses of the Russian press are held by the World Association of Russian Press (WARP) in countries that play a special role in the history of Russian cultural and public life and are important for the Russian diaspora, the number of which is currently estimated at 25 to 30 million people ( second place in the world after the Chinese).
WARP is an open international non-governmental independent organization, which includes print and electronic media, agencies, publishers, editorial offices, television and radio channels, and other types of media in Russian. The founders of the WARP were ITAR-TASS, the Russian Press Institute, the newspapers New Russian Word (USA) and Russian Thought (France). Today, VARP is an influential public organization, uniting the vast majority of more than three thousand print and electronic media in Russian, published in 80 countries around the world.
