Russia’s state-run news agency TASS reported on May 27 that the Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Semyon Grigoryev has conveyed Tajik Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Dilrabo Mansouri, a message from Federation Council (Russia’s upper chamber of parliament) Speaker, Ms. Valentina Matviyenko inviting her to participate in the Eurasian Women’s Forum in St. Petersburg.
Russian ambassador reportedly met with Ms. Mansouri on May 27. According to TASS, the parties discussed issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cultural and educational cooperation between Russia and Tajikistan as well as implementation of the government-to-government agreement between Russia and Tajikistan on construction of new building for the State Russian Drama Theater named after Mayakovsky in Dushanbe.
This agreement was signed in Moscow on December 18, 2023. The document was inked by Russian Vice-Premier Marat Husnullin and Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda. Tajikistan’s parliament ratified the agreement in April this year.
The Mayakovsky Theatre was a historic theatre in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe. It was demolished in 2016.
The edifice was designed by Pyotr Vaulin and built in the 1920s in what was then known as Stalinabad. It was the first building with permanent foundations to be completed in the future capital, and initially served as a farmers' meeting place. The House of Peasants, as it was known, was the venue where Tajik politician Nusratullo Makhsum declared the creation of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic in October 1929.
The building was by turns the venue of Tajikistan's first cinema, its first modern library, first public reading rooms, first theater, first radio broadcasting center, first driving school and first home to the Pioneers youth movement. In its latter years, it was the home of the city's Mayakovsky theatre company.
The theatre building was demolished in 2016 as part of the government's wholesale destruction of numerous 20th-century buildings of historical and architectural interest.
As far as the Eurasian Women’s Forum is concerned, it will be held this year in St. Petersburg from September 18-20.
The idea of creating in Russia a high profile international platform for discussing a new role and opportunities for women in the challenges of the 21st century, consolidating women leaders, women's associations in the interests of peace and humanitarian cooperation belongs to Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko.
The first Eurasian Women's Forum was organized by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS member states. The First Eurasian Women's Forum was held on September 24-25, 2015 in St. Petersburg under the motto "Towards Peace, Harmony and Social Well-being”. It showed a positive trend towards consolidation of the international women's community for the sake of peace, justice, harmony and social well-being.
