Welcome speech

Abstract

I congratulate you on our new regular meeting. Kliment Trubetskoy, co-chair of our conference, asked me to convey his warmest greetings to Prof. Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector of St. Petersburg State Mining Institute, and to all of you, participants of the conference. At present we are at the stage of reforming science and education. Our academicians and members of the Organizing Committee K.N. Trubetskoy and V.A. Chanturia are now dealing with reform issues in the RAS and therefore will not be able to participate in the conference. Our Fifth International Conference is held here, in the walls of the Mining Institute. It is the second time it is held on the basis of the Mining Institute. In 2000, the Second International Scientific Conference was held here. We still have a vivid impression of it, and therefore, when we had an opportunity to repeat the conference at your place, we took advantage of this offer with great pleasure. During the conferences we have already formed our own circle of participants and like-minded people. Here I see many of our regular participants, including foreign guests from China, Serbia, Ukraine, and other countries. This makes discussions and exchange of opinions, taking into account friendly comments and wishes, very fruitful.