Today is the last day of the 3rd International Financial Security Olympiad, with prizes and awards presented to 24 Russian high-school students and 105 undergraduates (71 Russian, and 34 from other countries).
The winners and awardees were formally announced by the concluding session of the Organizing Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko.
In a key moment throughout the Olympiad week, President of Russia Vladimir Putin personally attended the “Peer-to-Peer Talk” plenary session. Underscoring why the Olympiad is so important, President Putin said, “The practice of international communication, educational cooperation, friendships and partnerships in this significant and sensitive sphere is especially important these days as every year ensuring financial security becomes an ever more important, complex, comprehensive objective on a great scale, and this is not an overstatement. Achieving this objective requires a common effort and high level of training of experts in many different fields.”
As the interest in the Olympiad grows consistently, this year’s movement has covered over 6 million people, with many participants – over 40 from high schools and universities alike – coming for the second and third time.
In a statement, Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshenko underscored that this year’s Olympiad geographical coverage had expanded to 19 countries, “not only the CIS but also the far abroad.’”
“The Olympiad is gaining momentum, and we see an important need for continuing and further developing this movement. This time, 486 participants qualified for the finals, which is more than the last year – 109 high-school students and 215 undergraduates from Russia, and 162 foreign undergraduates, 69 of them from the CIS and 93 from the ‘far abroad’,” he said.
As before, the finals week was marked by diverse and interesting events. Says Yury Chikhanchin, Director of Rosfinmonitoring: “The agenda included over 60 events important for the broader security of the national and international financial system as well as for the professional path of high-school students and undergraduates. Our intention is to further broaden the Olympiad movement. Global anti-money laundering experts from various countries share their knowledge and experience with the younger communities, making financial security an ever-expanding fellowship.”
Conferences, panel discussions, and meetings on the margins of the Olympiad brought together financial security experts from potential employers – government authorities and major Russian companies. The topic of the key international gathering, the Sirius 2023 International Financial Security Forum, was ensuring financial security in the context of global transformation.
In a novel format, the Olympiad participants from 15 countries formed four phygital football teams to compete for the ever-first Four Continents Cup. Meanwhile, in keeping with the tradition of planting Phoenix date palms, the participants added another three trees to the Olympiad Alley.
The finals week culminated in a closing ceremony, with dignitaries handing well-deserved prizes to winners and awardees.
The International Financial Security Olympiad opens up new talents, helps participants to try out their novel and controversial ideas and assists them with choosing a profession. It is classified in Russia as Grade 1 Educational Olympiad, which means that winners and awardees get preferential admittance to all universities of the International Network AML/CFT Institute and open traineeship opportunities with Rosfinmonitoring and other AML/CFT stakeholders.
