The newly opened Center will offer the Russian language and culture courses for Sri Lankans who plan to work with Russians or get higher education in Russia. The opening ceremony began with the traditional rite of "burning the rooster", which guarantees the success of the undertaking. During the main part of the event, students and teachers of the university got acquainted with the Russian culture and the history of relations between Russia and Sri Lanka, communicated with native speakers of the Russian language, learned about the courses of the Center and the opportunities for Sri Lankans to receive higher education in Russia.

Levan Dzhagaryan, the Ambassador of Russian Federation to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, welcomed the participants: The Center for Open Education for the Russian Language is a visible result of the collaboration and close cooperation of both countries, which must be multiplied by continuing this work in other educational institutions in Sri Lanka. I wish the students success in studying the Russian language and I hope that during my next visit to the Center the audience will understand my speech in Russian.”

“The Russian Federation and Sri Lanka have been cooperating for a long time, and many figures of the Russian culture are already well known to the Sri Lankans. I hope that our University will continue to develop collaboration with the Russian Universities”, - Vice Chancellor of the Gampaha Wickramarachchi University of Indigenous Medicine in Sri Lanka, Professor Ranjana W. Seneviratne added.

The founder of the Center for Open Education is I. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University. The reason for the opening is the growing interest of the Sri Lankans in studying Russian. The interest is largely due to the expansion of economic and cultural ties between two countries, which is confirmed by statistics: in the first quarter of 2023 the amount of the Russians came to Sri Lanka increased of 112% compared to the previous year.

The launch of the Center and its official opening are held with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. Training at the Center began on July 17.