The round table "The role of media in strengthening international relations" was held with the participation of representatives of the Baikal University in the press service of the Irkutsk branch of Komsomolskaya Pravda as part of the School of New Media. The round table was attended by the head of the Rossotrudnichestvo representative office in Mongolia Valeria Kilpyakova, the director of the Irkutsk branch of Komsomolskaya Pravda Stanislav Goldfarb, the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Eastern Siberia Alexei Sobol, journalists of the media of Mongolia and Vietnam, representatives of public organizations, as well as more than 50 foreign and Russian students.

The participants discussed why Irkutsk is the "gateway to Asia" and how the media are changing diplomacy today, touched upon the issues of tourist positioning of Irkutsk and the problems of training personnel for work in the international field.

Rector Oleg Gribunov told how practice and science are combined at Baikal University in the formation of a professional environment for future media specialists, including those aimed at covering the international agenda. A film dedicated to the theme of the round table aroused active interest.

The head of the media center, Svetlana Gutentog, shared her large-scale work experience and spoke about podcasts that are of interest to the student community.

"Our university has been training media specialists since 1998, during this time a significant personnel potential has been accumulated, an excellent material and technical base has been created. The international partnership of the University of Baikal covers education, science, culture, academic mobility and, of course, this work is actively consecrated by the press service and the media center, including by students. For example, their ability to conduct a live dialogue on the Big Change program on complex geopolitical topics without editing insurance proves their readiness for real work in media, diplomacy and international business immediately after release. Colleagues from Mongolia and Vietnam noted that in their countries there is a request for economic digests, human stories that form empathy and trust, and stories about culture," said Acting Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs Lyudmila Sanina.