MOSCOW, October 19. /TASS/. The St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum has received applications from seventy countries seeking to participate, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who serves as chairperson of the Forum’s steering committee, told TASS in an interview.

"We are so far in the information flow of applications coming to us. We have received proposals from seventy countries. Among them are countries in BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States); these are our friends, our colleagues. We are looking forward to hosting them; we see many of them have already applied. I would not act prematurely by indicating names and positions, but I can say already that [the applicants and potential participants include] ministers of culture and their deputies; as well, there are figures from the creative community and political circles," Golikova said. The steering committee will continue accepting applications until November 1, after which it will make decisions on which applications merit approval.

"We are experiencing two very challenging years. Some people call them dramatic, while others say that these are linchpin years," the official said. "Certainly, if we look at the cultural forum and what we want to discuss through the prism of the qualitative new development stage of civilization, we definitely have some concrete things to discuss, not merely among ourselves within the country, but also with our foreign colleagues," Golikova added.

This year, the forum will take place on November 16-18.