More than 1,500 participants from different countries are attending the meeting, participating simultaneously in more than a dozen discussion tables, under the central theme: ‘Culture of the 21st century: sovereignty or globalism’.

Welcoming the participants to the Forum, which is also attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said that the event is designed to openly discuss issues of common interest to all cultures.

Golikova said that these interests include the danger of unifying the original cultures, the current forms of international cooperation, as well as the role of traditions in strengthening the level of trust in society and the ethics of using modern technologies in culture.

Invited by his Russian counterpart Olga Liubimova, the Cuban minister will take part in the meeting of heads of culture and heads of foreign delegations on the Prospects of International Cultural Cooperation, to be held on Friday, September 13.

Upon their arrival in St. Petersburg, the delegation headed by Alonso toured the historic halls of the Winter Palace, the private quarters of the Czars and the crowded art halls of the imposing Hermitage complex.

The Caribbean delegation appreciated the largest collection of Russian avant-garde painters of the 20th century, including Kandinsky, Malevich, Tatlin, among many masters of that pictorial generation.

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