Olga Egorova Took Part in the Meetingof the International Federation of Translators (FIT) Council

On April 21 and 22, the annual meeting of the FIT Council should have taken place inBarcelona at the Spanish Association of Translators. It should be recalled that in 2018, Astrakhan welcomed guests from all over the world at FIT Congress held by Astrakhan State University.  Unfortunately, the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic requires that certain adjustments be made; now it is not possible to hold anon-site meeting, so 17 Council members from all regions of the world, including CITS trainer Olga Egorova, had to meet online via the Zoom platform.

For two days, the Council members discussed the annual strategy ofdevelopment of translation and interpretation industry, which is especially relevant now, when the global pandemic is changing rules of the game in all markets. At the moment, many translation and interpretation companies are suffering from the aftermathof economic downturn. Governments of different countries are introducing measures to support the industry. All these issues became part of the agenda of the Council large meeting.Another important issue under discussion was planning of the Council’s further activities, in particular organization of the largest event of the International Federation of Translators.

Every three years this event hosted by one of the FIT member-states brings together several thousand translators,interpreters, employers, and representatives of international organizations, governments, and corporations. This year, in December, the Congress was to be held in the Republic of Cuba. Due to the pandemic, it was decided to postpone the dates of the Congress. In the near future, FIT will announce it officially. The decision to postpone the event was made due to the fact that such a large-scale event cannot be held online, since personal presence is required at negotiations, meetings, etc.

In addition, the Council discussed the possibility of holding the next FIT Congress in Russia. During the meeting participants also addressed issues of accepting new members and developing translation and interpretation services in those parts of the world where the translation and interpretation industry is not at so high level as it is in other regions. Here, the role of Astrakhan and the Caspian region is very important, as we can make our contribution and help our neighbouringpartners – CIS countries, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Iran, with which CITS cooperates on a regular basis. On behalf of FIT, we will share our experience and talk about international opportunities. The Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation of ASU knows what is happening in the international translation and interpretation market, how our profession will change in the near future, what we can expect from the translation and interpretation industry and what specialists we need to train for the next decades.