To build a multipolar world, Russia will focus on eliminating the U.S. dominance in world affairs and create conditions to counter any “neo-colonial and hegemonic ambitions,” the document said.

Russia called the United States “the main inspirer, organizer and executor of the aggressive anti-Russian policy of the collective West, the source of the major risks to the security of Russia, international peace and balanced, equitable and progressive development of mankind.”

Russia voiced its readiness to maintain strategic parity and peaceful coexistence with the United States and to establish a balance of interests between the two countries.

But the prospects for such relations depend on the U.S. readiness to abandon its policy of forceful domination and revise its anti-Russian course in favor of interactions with Russia, the document said.

As for the normalization of Russia-Europe ties, the concept criticized the strategic policy of the United States to “draw and deepen dividing lines in Europe to undermine the competitiveness of the economies of Russia and European states, limit the sovereignty of European states, and ensure the U.S. global dominance.”

The Foreign Policy Concept was approved by Putin in a decree signed on Friday to replace the 2016 version. The document came into force immediately.

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According to media reports, sources said that after Honduran President Xiomara Castro expressed readiness to establish diplomatic ties with China, the United States began to exert diplomatic pressure on Honduras, trying to persuade Honduras to withdraw the decision before formally signing the diplomatic relations agreement with China.

In response to a related query, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily news briefing that the fact that 181 countries have established diplomatic relations with China based on the one-China principle fully shows that establishing diplomatic ties with China is the right choice that accords with the trend of history and our times.

China welcomes the Honduran government’s positive statement on developing relations with China and is willing to establish and develop bilateral relations with Honduras based on equality and mutual respect, Wang noted.

In recent years, Panama, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua have established or resumed diplomatic relations with China, Wang said, adding that the practical cooperation between China and these countries made rapid progress, which has delivered tangible benefits to the people of the countries concerned.

“Any sovereign country has the right to develop diplomatic relations on its own, and other countries have no right to interfere,” Wang stressed, adding that if the report of U.S. diplomatic pressure on Honduras is true, it just shows that the U.S. statement that every country decides its own foreign policy based on sovereignty is empty talk.

Wang said the United States itself established diplomatic relations with China based on recognizing the one-China principle more than 40 years ago. “How can it deprive or obstruct other countries’ right to establish diplomatic ties and develop relations with China?” 

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As a visiting professor at the Almaty-based Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU), Akkari has been to Kazakhstan three times – in 2018, 2019, and 2020 within academic exchanges with KazNU to develop joint research projects and hold educational seminars. His research interests are centered on intercultural education, teacher training, and reforms of education systems in a comparative and international perspective. 

“Academic exchange programs allow us to develop academic and intercultural skills. The cooperation between Kazakhstan and Switzerland is focused on internationalization of curriculum, research, and mobility. I hope we will also be able to get a big project funded by the European Union or other organizations,” said the professor. 

Comparing Kazakh and Swiss education systems, he noted that “Kazakhstan and Switzerland are facing common challenges, including multilingualism, interculturality, employability, and the impact of digitalization.” 

“In more than 30 years, the university system of Kazakhstan has undergone many changes, including internationalization and development of private universities. There are conditions for improving the quality of higher education like a good level of infrastructure, the commitment of stakeholders and the government of Kazakhstan. The country has increased its support for higher educational institutions and international mobility of professors and students,” said Akkari. 

“I think there are also challenges to be met, for example, the funding of higher education, the lack of equity, the development of research, and the significance of strengthening research policies and scientific production,” he added. 

Speaking about the importance of research capacity, Akkari said that “the development of scientific production of Kazakh universities is a long-term task because it requires a lot of human and financial resources.”

“It is ultimately about changing the mindset of Kazakh academics so that research and publication become natural activities and not just tied to the institutional requirements of universities. I believe that more innovations are needed in research and teaching,” said Akkari. 

He also mentioned the well-developed internationalization of the Swiss higher education system, referring to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2023 and the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report 2019.  

“The QS thirteenth edition has identified the world’s best university offerings for 54 academic disciplines. A total of 32 Swiss university programs are among the top ten in the world for their respective disciplines,” he noted. 

“On the one hand, we see that the best universities are concentrated in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The ranking of Chinese universities is improving rapidly. On the other hand, when we relate these university rankings to the size of the country, interesting facts appear. For example, the higher education system in Switzerland, which is less known at the international level, is described as excellent,” he said. 

The best higher education system, in his opinion, is “the one that contributes the most to the socio-economic development and prosperity of a country.” 

“It is a system accessible to all social categories and especially the most disadvantaged. It is also a system that equips graduates with the skills needed in the 21st century and allows them to access a qualifying job. In short, the best university is the one that creates useful knowledge for society and humanity,” said Akkari. 

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