Visit of diplomats to the city of Ostroh

The program of the visit was eventful and included an excursion to the National University of Ostroh Academy, a meeting with professors and teaching staff, a communication with students in the format of Diplomatic forum, excursions to the Castle Hill, the Museum of Book and Publishing.

The Rector of Ostroh Academy, the Hero of Ukraine, and Professor Ihor Pasichnyk together with the Dean of the College of International Relations Alla Atamanenko, colleagues and students met the guests. After a short but rich in content greeting speech delivered by the Rector, the Candidate of Historical sciences, the Director of the Museum of History of Ostroh Academy Anastasiia Heleniuk together with the research worker Vitalii Bondarchuk gave a tour of the educational institution for the guests, namely of the University’s Museum, they showed the exhibition of sculptures of Martila Pylypenko (an American artist of Ukrainian origin), the early printed books, exposition devoted to the Trypil culture, Capuchin Monastery caves and the Temple located inside the university.

After the informative tour, the students of the academy took part in the Diplomatic forum and communicated with the honourable guests. During the Forum the Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of foreign states, representatives of diplomatic missions, international organizations answered students’ questions and shared their impressions of the trip. English was chosen as the language of communication between the participants. The diplomats were impressed by the high level of training of young students as well as by their wide range of interests.

Moreover, during the meeting the jubilee 10th for the Academy and the 1st for GDIP Record of Ukraine was set in the category “Mass events”, which was recorded by the corresponding certificate. It was for the first time that representatives of the diplomatic corps and employees of foreign missions and consular institutions who represented maximum number of countries of the world, namely 17, met at one time on the platform of higher education institution. The ceremony of granting the title of Honourable Professor of the Chair of International Relations of the National University of Ostroh Academy to the Director-General of GDIP Pavlo Kryvonos took place during the forum.

“Our task was to familiarize the diplomats and ambassadors with the phenomenon of Ostroh Academy in Ukrainian education and culture. During the visit and communication with students the diplomats made sure that Ostroh Academy had already become a brand and there is no need to leave to big cities to obtain quality education,” Pavlo Kryvonos indicated.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

– In fact I think this tour is very useful and informative. Apart from visiting the Ostroh Academy, we also had the chance to see many other historical places of Ostroh city like library, the castle, the castle hill, the church, museums. I’m really impressed withconditions for students to study in the Ostroh Academy. I got good impression about the visit, communication with young people and the excursion. And I hope next time when the GDIP organizes the trip like this I will join it.

Guido Grauwels, Counsellor and Consul to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium

– It was very interesting excursion to the city which impressed me – Ostroh. The official visit became a wonderful occasion to discover it and to listen to narration about it’s historic importance. We met many interesting people there and very friendly and smart students. We were really given focus attention by the young people, they were in every corridor waiting for us. But I was also impressed by the high level of students’ questions and their mastering of English. I was sincerely glad to see the assembly hall completely filled ready to participate in the “Diplomatic forum”.

Before the meeting I didn’t know the historic importance of the city, the Academy, the Museum of Book and Printing. Now I think that it is a place to come back to and to watch everything quietly and more in detail. But I was intrigued to hear about Antwerp. This city had been the centre of book printing and history, as well as Germany. It goes without saying that the Bible printed in 1581 in Ostroh is a very important part of heritage. I have also discovered that there are other books of that level of importance from this Belgian city. I thank GDIP for having organized this trip. It’s an excellent idea. I will spread the word to my colleagues that they really missed something unique.

Zaza Nadiradze, Vice-Consul to the Embassy of Georgia

– Our official visit was very interesting. I thank the organizers for this trip. The Academy was marvelous with its rich history and good future. Professors and Rector whom I personally saw today are really capable to bring up excellent professionals in future for the good of Ukraine.

Bakir Ahmed Aziz Al-Jaff, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Iraq

– First I would like to express gratitude to GDIP, Mr. Kryvonos and his team for organization of the visit. Today is the last day of winter and it’s very cold. However, it was very important trip and we were out of politics. We lived one day with science, with the University, its youth and the history of the city. We saw very important results of the work, which had been done in the past by many faithful Ukrainians and people who lived in Ukraine in different times. Today we discovered many different areas of work of this University. We had a good time which we spent fruitfully and we are glad that today GDIP, our partners, our colleagues, diplomats, ambassadors are like one family. We were very happy. It is a historical day for us.