On the St. Petersburg stage, the play «Profitable Place» by the Ashgabat youth theater «ArtEast» was successfully shown.

The modernized version of the play by Alexander Ostrovskiy was presented by the creative team from Turkmenistan to the attention of colleagues and the foreign public at the XXV International Festival of Russian Theatres «Meetings in Russia».

Specially to familiarize the participants of the festival with the traditions and cultural heritage of the Turkmen people, artists from Ashgabat prepared a separate performance by performing the ancient dance «Kushtdepdi» in national costumes, included in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO.

Attaching great importance to the development of cultural exchange and the deepening of dialogue between theatres of the near abroad, the organizers of the theatre festival held an international conference, at which directors, artistic directors and chief directors of theatres from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan spoke.

The Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova addressed the Conference participants with a video message. On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the Interstate Foundation for Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS, the guests of the forum were welcomed by Special Representative of the President of Russia for International Cultural Cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi.

As part of the plenary sessions, the artistic director Igor Annagylyjov read out a report on the activities of the «ArtEast» theatre in Ashgabat. Sharing his impressions of the creative trip, he noted:

- Departure to international stages gives the opportunity for actors to rise in a professional level. Participation in international festivals enriches.

All creative teams that presented their theatrical productions at the anniversary International Festival of Russian Theatres «Meetings in Russia» received commemorative diplomas for participation.