On 14 May, Ihor Ostash, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine, took part in the 2nd International Scientific and Practical Conference ‘International and Cross-Cultural Communication in Shaping a State’s Image: Development Strategies’, held at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine.

During the conference, Ihor Ostash presented a paper entitled ‘Translations into Arabic as a Tool of Ukraine’s Cultural Diplomacy: The Experience of the Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon’, focusing on the role of translation as a form of international communication and Ukraine’s intellectual presence in the countries of the Middle East.

The presentation discussed the programme implemented in Lebanon to translate Ukrainian literature into Arabic, through which works by Hryhorii Skovoroda, Lesia Ukrainka, Ivan Franko, Vasyl Stus, Ahatanhel Krymskyi and other Ukrainian authors were introduced to Arabic-speaking readers. Particular attention was paid to translations as a tool for countering Russian imperial narratives, which for a long time shaped a distorted perception of Ukrainian culture in the region.

Ihor Ostash also emphasised that this humanitarian work continues today within the framework of the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine — through new Arabic-language editions of Ukrainian classics, public presentations, academic discussions and cultural-diplomatic projects. 

In particular, in 2025–2026, Arabic translations of Taras Shevchenko’s ‘Kobzar’, Lesya Ukrainka’s ‘The Forest Song’ and works of Olha Kobylianska were published, forming part of a systematic effort to establish Ukrainian cultural identity within the international humanities sphere.

The conference was partnered and co-organised by the Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

The event was also attended by: Hennadii Nadolenko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Malaysia, Borys Humeniuk, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine; Olena Yalova, Director of the Directorate-General for State Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; Oleksandr Yarema, State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (2020–2025); as well as Ukrainian and foreign academics.