Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman cosmonaut, recently presided over a joint Russian-Maltese evening at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Paris.

The event was organised by the Russian and Maltese permanent delegations to Unesco, and the Russian Centre for Culture in Malta, to present the book A Journey through the Centuries: Historical Discoveries in Russo-Maltese Relations.

The book was compiled by Dr Elizaveta Zolina, the late director of the Russian Centre in Malta, published in English in 2002 and in Russian in 2005 with a foreword by Unesco general director Koichiro Matsuura.

Ambassador Eleanora Mitrofanova, Russia's permanent representative to Unesco, stressed the importance of the research project in Russo-Maltese historical relations, initiated in 1995 and which is still ongoing. She noted that, despite the divergence in size of the two countries, public initiative and support succeeded in highlighting their joint contribution to European and Mediterranean history and world heritage. She invited other countries to share this experience in supporting the work of Unesco.

Dr Tereshkova, who has visited Malta many times and supported the project from the start, said her space flight experience proved that all people on Earth are members of the same spaceship. They should be wise enough to compromise and solve problems peacefully while studying their history to ensure a better future for humankind. She welcomed the Russian-Maltese project as a good example of such international cultural co-operation.

Fr Marius Zerafa, another speaker at the event and one of the contributors to the research project, highlighted Russian-Maltese literary and artistic exchanges.

The event also included a film which briefly summarised the book which had been issued under the auspices of the Russian and Maltese National Commissions for Unesco.