On March 9 an online meeting of the State Language Protection Commissioner of Ukraine Taras Kremin with the Ukrainian-Brazilian Central Representation was held on the occasion of the 207th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko’s birthday.

The meeting was also attended by the Chairman of the Ukrainian-Brazilian Central Representation Vittorio Sorotiuk, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Brazil Rostyslav Tronenko, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of the National Pedagogical Drahomanov University Volodymyr Lavrynenko, Representative of the  State Language Protection Commissioner of Ukraine Andrii Vitrenko, Director of the Ukrainian State Center for International Education Olena Shapovalova, Third Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Brazil Ihor Torshyn, Deputy Chairman of the UBCR, Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Curitiba Mariano Czaikowski, President of the Ukrainian Society of Brazil Mirna Voloshen, Honorary Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Catechists of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Filomena Protsek, Honorary Consul of Brazil in Dnipro Oleh Vasylenko.

“It is symbolic that our meeting takes place on Taras Shevchenko’s birthday as Ukrainians all over the world were able to preserve their identity mainly due to his poetic word. It is also significant that today the President of Ukraine has emphasized in his interview that the only state language in Ukraine is Ukrainian and has appealed to Ukrainian MPs not to address the language issue in the parliament. I hope we will keep on receiving better support for the Ukrainian language”, - Taras Kremin said.

The participants discussed the issue of access of young people of Ukrainian origin of Brazil to distance Ukrainian language learning courses, joint scientific projects between the leading universities of both countries, summer language camps, etc.

Taras Kremin also stressed the importance of cooperation between Ukraine and Brazil in searching and opening of archival data concerning the history of Ukrainians’ migration to Brazil which dates back 130 years already.

“We are ready to protect the Ukrainian language not only in Ukraine but also abroad for establishing and strengthening the world Ukrainianness”, - the Commissioner emphasized.