Rector of the Astrakhan State University welcomes the Council of International Federation of Translators (FIT)

On April 5-7, 2018 Astrakhan hosted a meeting of the Council of International Federation of Translators (FIT- Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs), the biggest and most influential global-scale federation that unites highly-skilled linguists and terminologists. During their stay in our city, the members of FIT delegation were also welcomed at Astrakhan State University, where they had a meeting with Konstantin A. Markelov, the ASU Acting Rector, Nikolay M. Khurchak, the ASU Vice-Rector for International Relations, and other officials of the University.
The rector welcomed the FIT Council members in the classrooms of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation. At the beginning of his speech Mr. Markelov noted that the choice of place for the FIT Council meeting had not been fortuitous: the Astrakhan region is a crossing of different cultures and a connecting point between East and West, that is why the role of interpreters and translators in providing the intercultural dialogue will increase steadily.
The floor was also given to Kevin Quirk, the FIT President, to Vadim V. Sdobnikov, the President the Board of the Union of Translators of Russia, to Olga G. Egorova, the Director of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation and a member of the FIT Council, to Alan Melby, the FIT Vice –President, to Henry Liu, the FIT ex-President and its Honorary Advisor, and to Geoffrey Westgate, the Head of the Support Section of PCT Translation Service of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The speakers noted in grateful appreciation the work of Olga G. Egorova not only as a member of the FIT Council, but also as the Director of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation, where she fosters training of future interpreters and translators as highly-skilled and competitive professionals.
After the welcoming speech Mr. Markelov invited the delegation members on a tour around the University, showed sophisticated classrooms and told about the university achievements. One of such classrooms is the Conference Interpreting Center of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation, where the meeting took place, and, by the way, it is celebrating its first anniversary these days! It was in April 2017 when the Center started functioning, and today most classes and key events of the School are held here. The Center expanded the School technological infrastructure, and now it allows to hold more classes, meetings and videoconferences.