Mock conference devoted the South Stream project

On December 19, 2014 the first-year MA students of the Caspian Higher School of Interpreting and Translation held the mock conference devoted to halting of the South Stream project by Russia, its reasons and consequences. The lesson was held in the form of a press-conference where the MA students presented their reports. The lesson started with an introduction speech of our Chairperson — Karine Esayan, first-year MA student – in which she told us the general information on the South Stream project and the reasons of its halting. Svetlana Zaitseva spoke on behalf of the representative of Gazprom company and told us about consequences of halting the South stream project for Russia as well as for the EU countries; Yana Malinovskaya expressed the opinion of Bulgaria as of the country that imposed a veto over the building of the South Stream gas pipeline; Alexey Zadubovskii spoke on behalf of the president of Turkey and said about launching an alternative project and expanding of economic partnership with Russia; Yulia Vasilieva spoke on behalf of the representative of ENI company that was responsible for constructing of the pipeline and thus suffered great financial losses.

The interpreters – Alexandra Kherina, Karina Kulova, Nadezhda Utkina and Anna Veretelnikova – interpreted from English into Russian and from Russian into English in consecutive interpreting format. The well-organized and high-class work of the interpreters is worth mentioning. As the mock conference was a “formal event”, the mass media representatives were invited. The journalists – Tatiana Buzina, Olga Lukhmanova, Galimbek Turishev – asked the questions on the topics of the speeches.

The conference was very useful for all its participants as a means to expand their background knowledge and acquire new interpretation experience. At the end of the class, students received valuable comments on their work.