On July 1-2, Saransk hosted the Third High-Level International Conference, The World Treasury of Mother Tongues: Nourish and Cherish. Context, Policies and Practices to Preserve Indigenous Languages, as part of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. The conference brought together more than 160 participants from Russia and 30 other countries. The event was organized by the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs of Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry, and the Russian Committee of UNESCO’s Information for All Programme.
Speaking at the plenary session, Head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs Igor Barinov highlighted Russia’s active role in implementing the measures of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages and establishing national support mechanisms.
“Russia was the first UN member state to establish a National Organizing Committee for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages and the first to present a government-approved national action plan to the international community,” Barinov said.
He also emphasized that one of the key priorities is integrating Russia’s indigenous languages into the digital environment:
“Today, the digitalization of Russia’s indigenous languages is progressing very actively,” Barinov noted.
Speaking about international cooperation in preserving linguistic diversity, Barinov underscored the important contribution made by Russian regions to implementing UNESCO initiatives. With more than 300 languages and dialects spoken across the country, supporting linguistic diversity remains a key national priority for Russia.
“Language is more than a means of communication. It is what people breathe, what reflects their unique cultural code, historical memory, and worldview,” Barinov concluded.
Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, addressed the panel discussion on “Advanced ICT and AI Systems as Tools for Promoting Linguistic Diversity,” moderated by Feride Aronia, Head of the Department for Language Project Support and Implementation at the House of the Peoples of Russia.
Andrey Vorobyev outlined the Coordination Center’s efforts to apply artificial intelligence technologies to the internet addressing system in order to preserve and promote the languages of Russia's peoples. He noted that AI is already being used for domain name recommendation services, domain valuation tools, and the proactive detection of domain registrations potentially linked to illegal activities.
Andrey Vorobyev placed special focus on the development of a multilingual internet addressing system. Expanding the range of supported characters for domain registration in the .РФ domain has created new opportunities for using the languages of Russia’s peoples online.
“Our goal is to support not only Russia’s state languages, but all official languages of its peoples, and eventually extend support to minority, under-resourced, and indigenous languages. This is an important part of embedding our cultural heritage into the internet’s addressing system. Every new digital service, website, and domain name created in a native language is a contribution to preserving cultural heritage and linguistic diversity,” Vorobyev emphasized.
At the closing plenary session, Timur Tsybikov, Head of the Department for State Policy in Interethnic Relations at the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, summarized the outcomes of the Third High-Level International Conference, The World Treasury of Mother Tongues: Nourish and Cherish.
“Only through trust-based dialogue can we achieve the goals set out in the Global Action Plan for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages,” Tsybikov said.
