October 20, 2017: yesterday, October 19, Mr. Patric Franzen, Minister and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Switzerland visiting the city within the framework of Swiss Film Festival met with representatives of the Taganrog Local Government.

The Swiss diplomat was received by the Executive Officer Maxim Baksov in his bureau. The meeting was also attended by Alla Akchurina - Embassy of Switzerland's Cultural Project Officer, Yuriy Shuyskiy - the European festival's curator, movie scholar and culture expert, Alexander Mirgorodskiy - Taganrog Foreign Relations Officer and Lyudmila Skrynnikova - divisional manager at the Taganrog Arts & Culture Council, representatives of the local mass media.


Maxim Baksov greeted Swiss diplomatic officers on behalf of Taganrog City Manager Andrey Lisitsky and thanked the Embassy of Switzerland for its initiative to hold the film festival in this city. In his turn, Mr. Patric Franzen remarked that the opening ceremony at the Taganrog Youth Center was held in a very warm and friendly atmosphere and well organized.

The meeting allowed for an exchange of views on further cooperation in culture and arts. Taganrog invited Swiss children to participate in the next edition of the International Children's Art Contest "Anton Chekhov and Characters of his Works", while the Swiss side listed their own ideas, including an art contest, a book program for kids and another edition of film festival focusing on environmental problems. This initiative was supported by Maxim Baksov: "In Rostov Oblast 2017 was declared the Year of Ecology. This is why this will be doubly important to screen such films. Besides, in Taganrog, which is an industrial city, we accord the utmost attention to the environmental issues".

After the traditional exchange of souvenirs, Patric Franzen made a few photos of historical downtown area from the city hall's seventh floor height.