From September 09 to 13, 2018, a large-scale event was held in Moscow not only for beekeepers of Russia and neighboring countries, but also for the entire world beekeeping community as a whole.
The XXII Congress of APISLAVIA, which was held in Moscow for the first time in the last 20 years, has become one of the brightest Congresses in the entire more than 100-year history of APISLAVIA, whose borders have expanded from Eurasian to global. The XXII Congress was attended by international delegations from more than thirty countries, including Austria, Italy, Spain, Greece, USA, India, China, Turkey, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Macedonia, and CIS countries.
The grand opening of the Congress took place in the State Kremlin Palace, which barely accommodated everyone who wanted to take part in this beautiful beekeeping festival, as more than five thousand people gathered. The official part was held in the format of a panel discussion on the topic "Bee is the main ecologist of the planet", which was attended by the leader of the Communist Party G. A. Zyuganov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation I. V. Lebedev, Chairman of the Committee on Agrarian Issues of the State Duma of the Russian Federation V. I. Kashin, President of the Union of Beekeepers and Beekeeping Organizations of the country "Beekeeping", Director of JSC "Agrobioprom" O. K. Chupakhina, President of the ASSOCIATION APISLAVIA Ludovit Gal, Vice-President of the ASSOCIATION APISLAVIA Cristian Constantinescu, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the beekeeping Laboratory of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Research Center of the North-East A. Z. Brandorf, President of the international organization of young beekeepers IMYB Jiri Pisa. Then the Congress guests were invited to a concert program with the participation of the Kremlin Ballet Theater, the state Academic choreographic ensemble "Beryozka", the State Academic Symphony Capella of Russia, the folk ensemble" Karavay " and the youngest artists — participants of children's theater, vocal and dance studios who did not leave anyone indifferent to their work.
After the opening ceremony, the Congress continued its work in the Sokolniki Exhibition Complex. For the duration of the Congress, Pavilion No. 2 of the Sokolniki Exhibition Complex has turned into a large beehive of international scale.
During the Congress, more than a hundred speakers presented their reports on beekeeping and apitherapy. The exhibition was attended by more than fifty exhibitors of the international beekeeping community, including particularly memorable expositions of participants from Poland, Romania, Slovakia, China, Kazakhstan and the USA. A real highlight of the exhibition was a Master class on determining the authenticity of honey, which attracted a huge number of people who wanted to take part in it directly.
The main problem that concerned all participants of the Congress was how to stop the mass death of bees everywhere, which is increasing every year due to the deterioration of the environmental situation in the world.
According to Vladimir Kashin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, beekeeping in Russia will receive support at the state level, as it happens in many countries around the world. Beekeepers of Russia, and together with them, all Russians who are concerned about the state of the environment in general, want to believe that this will happen in the very near future, because now serious problems in the life of bees on our planet are being discussed at the state level in many countries of the world, without which a correct and balanced food policy of any country possible.