Statement by Dmitry Birichevskiy at the 13th APEC Conference on Higher Education (Vladivostok, 4 September 2024)

Dear colleagues and friends,

I would like to extend my gratitude to the Ministry of Science and Higher education of the Russian Federation, Far Eastern Federal University and APEC Secretariat for their hospitality and excellent organization of the 13th APEC Conference on Higher Education (CCHE). It is a great privilege and honor to share with the distinguished audience my perspective on recent trends and challenges in the field of higher education in the Asia-Pacific.

APEC cooperation has been a cornerstone of the economic architecture in the Asia-Pacific and a driving force of regional growth for more than 30 years. These days APEC economies account for more than 40% of the population of our planet, 50% of world trade, two thirds of global GDP.

As international dynamics continues to shift to Asia, APEC’s unique position as the premier platform for collaboration as well as an efficient incubator of ideas is as strong as ever. Our region is a cradle for state-of-the-art innovations. The pace of digitalization is impressive, including digital currencies and artificial intelligence. Developing economies of ASEAN, China, Latin America become new centers of economic and technological growth reflecting global trends of emerging multipolar world order.

This context showcases the importance of high quality inclusive modern education systems in the Asia-Pacific as a solid base for the region’s successful development. In line with the APEC Education Strategy 2016-2030, the annual Conference on Higher Education provides a profound opportunity to address key issues and ways of further improvement in this area.

This year we are speaking about “Unleashing a Global Potential of Education”. This topic fully complies with the APEC-2024 Presidency – Peru’s agenda to promote sustainable development focusing on three enablers: Empower. Include and Grow.

Education is a liberating force for every person. It is also the grassroots upon which peaceful and prosperous Asia-Pacific community is being built. We believe the prosperity of every economy in the coming decades will be determined by their success in developing human capital and unleashing the creative potential of the workforce. I hope that today’s discussions will touch upon such pivotal issues in terms of eliminating barriers for our cooperation as academic mobility, mutual recognition of qualifications, digital education, expansion of virtual education platforms etc.

APEC has unique capacities to take stock of the Asia-Pacific trends in education as well as various domestic experiences and translate it into joint activities of member economies and practical instruments. APEC spirit of cooperation, consensus, and inclusiveness is an important advantage in this regard as it allows us to move forward no matter how volatile regional environment might be.

Russia will continue to contribute to common efforts of member economies through our projects and initiatives in the Forum. We are active in various practical fields, among others – development of remote areas, strengthening creative economy, women’s empowerment. Most of them include strong education component.

We are open to sharing our know-hows and enhancing international cooperation in education, with interested partners in the region. Russia has a rich tradition in educating students from the Asia-Pacific and we intend to further expand this track, offering high quality programs in medicine, engineering, natural sciences, digital technology and others. President Putin had fruitful discussions on this matter with Vietnam’s President To Lam in June and the President-elect of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto in July this year. Relevant agreement with Vietnamese partners was signed that opens new opportunities for mutually beneficial student exchanges.

I wish you productive and fruitful discussions during the Conference and hope that today’s meeting will become a step towards our main goal – building an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040, for the prosperity of all our people and future generations. Thank you!