Dear colleagues and friends!

The IV St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum has ended. I would like to sincerely thank the experts, participants and organizers of the event!

The entire 2015 we worked together on the preparation of the Forum, and as a result it has become a unique event in the cultural life of St. Petersburg and the entire country - the event of a truly global scale. Interest, which it caused, the status, number and professional level of the participants, the geography of countries and continents - all this suggests that in many countries the participation in the Forum is regarded as an opportunity to find approaches to the integration of global cultural flows, joint definition of the most acute problems and key areas of development.

The agenda of the Forum 2015 in the framework of the 12 sections and extended intersectional program contained and key trends of world culture, and a truly unique developments of the industry. Plenary meetings, discussion boards, open meetings of the artists with the audience, panel discussions, exhibitions, workshops that united all the participants of the cultural process.

This year, the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum changed - twice the increase in the number of participants, the program was held "under the auspices of the Forum," and stood out Central and Business Forum venues. In addition, in the city were held a number of significant cultural events of the country, established an annual award for the cultural workers of uncreative professions named after Lunacharskii significantly has increased business component of the event, were signed more than 20 agreements in the field of culture. I am convinced that all this will be a good basis for a global and comprehensive development of the Forum heritage.

Especially should be noted the attention paid by UNESCO in the year of its 70th anniversary. The experts discussed the most pressing problems of preserving the world's cultural heritage in the framework of each section of the Forum, and at the final meeting was adopted a draft "Declaration on the Protection of Culture in areas of armed conflicts." It is symbolic that the positions of the world's leading cultural figures on this issue were announced in St Petersburg - the city-monument and at the same time one of the most dynamic cultural capitals of the world.

During the 2016 Forums will continue its work and, sure, expand the scope of the professional dialogue, and will be a key cultural event, the hallmark of St. Petersburg and Russia in the global cultural process.

Director                                                                                           E. Moskvin