Representatives of 12 Countries celebrated the International Mother Language Day. Creative Meeting "Language as a Bridge of Friendship: Dialogue of Cultures"
The creative event "Language as a Bridge of Friendship: Dialogue of Cultures" took place on February 21, 2026 – the International Mother Language Day – at the Novosibirsk Museum of the Sun and Online. Representatives of 12 countries took part in the event.:
- Russia,
- Kazakhstan,
- Turkmenistan,
- Laos,
- Colombia,
- China,
- Syria,
- India,
- Uzbekistan,
- Bulgaria,
- as well as guests from Cambodia
- and Thailand.
Music, dance and the artistic word helped the speakers to reveal the role of language not just as a means of communication, but as a basis of spiritual identity and the guardian of traditional values.
– The main purpose of today's event is to continue the youth communication initiated within the "Let's be Friends!" community at the World Public Assembly in September 2025. We intend to expand and deepen communication based on spiritual culture, so the unifying theme is the preservation of the native languages of the peoples of the world," - said Irina Polyakova, Head of the Directorate on Spiritual Culture of the World Peoples Assembly. – I would especially like to thank the Youth World Peoples Assembly for the great work in attracting foreign participants, who made the program really rich and interesting.
The performers included:
- Evgeny Govorov (Russia) – original Russian folk;
- Victoria Kolesnikova (Russia, Yakutia) – song in Dolgan;
- Larisa Dorzhieva (Russia, Buryatia) – folk song "Tonshit";
- Bunpon Phasovor (Laos) with the support of students of Novosibirsk University – a story about the culture of the Lao people with a national dance and song;
- Dinara Aldubayeva (Kazakhstan) – song in Kazakh;
- Muslim Ergashbayev (Uzbekistan) – report of the youth wing of the SCO Center for Public Diplomacy;
- Madina Abdrakhmanova (Uzbekistan) – song in Uzbek;
- Yue Zhang (China) – report of the Department of Education of the Union of Chinese Students and Students of Lomonosov Moscow State University;
- Saparguly Makhtumov (Turkmenistan) – presentation on the Turkmen language;
- Juan Marco Gonzalez Cruz (Colombia) – report on the Spanish language;
- Ali Iman Nebras (Syria) – prayer in Aramaic, Russian song "Polyushko-polye" in Arabic;
- Angelina Singh (India) – report on interfaith dialogue;
- Utkarsh Dikshit (India) – presentation about the Hindi language;
- Luisa Krstanova (Bulgaria) – poem in Bulgarian;
- Valery Popov (Russia) – report on the role of language as a bridge between the cultures of the peoples of the world
and others.
– The meeting showed the interest of young people in the format of "public diplomacy through culture". This means that a series of meetings with participants and a number of new creative formats will be developed – a language flash mob, a continuation of the language creative online marathon, youth cultural lounges and much, much more," - Irina Polyakova, Head of the Directorate on Spiritual Culture of the World Peoples Assembly, concluded at the end of the event.
Another important outcome of the event was the draft Communique on the role of youth in preserving languages and the experience of the World Peoples Assembly, which will be sent to the UN Alliance of Civilizations.
The event was organized by the Directorate on Spiritual Culture of the World Peoples Assembly, the social movement "Let's be Friends!" and the Youth World Peoples Assembly.
More information is on the official website of the Assembly of the Peoples of the World and at media@world-assembly.org.