The International Expert Meeting on the Preservation of Languages ​​and their Development in Cyberspace was held in Khanty-Mansiysk. The participants agreed to start work on UNESCO’s World Atlas of Languages. One of the topics of the meeting was discussion of the "Yakutsk Declaration on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace", elaborated at the conference, held in 2014 on the basis of NEFU.

North-Eastern Federal University was represented by Pro-rector for Education in Humanities and Corporate Policy Nadejda Zaikova. "NEFU raises thorny questions in the field of preservation of the languages ​​of the world, as well as the development of technology in this field. After three conferences, held in Yakutsk, an expert group dedicated to the protection of minority languages ​​in the world was formed. The third conference, held at NEFU last year, showed the need to protect the equality of all languages ​​- major and small", the Pro-rector said. Conferences on the preservation of languages were held in Yakutsk in 2008, 2011 and 2014 – the federal university co-organized the last two.

"For the first time at the international level, it was not only about the small languages in danger, but also about major African languages ​​that do not have proper status, as well as the official United Nations languages, which are rapidly losing ground in the world and are giving way to English. Participants of the meeting also talked about the fact that languages ​​- are not only a cultural heritage, but also the enormous opportunities for cultural and ideological influence, making economic benefits. All the major countries of the world work with the languages ​​of the developing countries, particularly on the presentation of their national and local content in cyberspace", according to the official website of the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme.

UNESCO experts have decided to transform the existing electronic Atlas of Languages ​​in danger into the World Atlas of Languages - it will be used as a tool for monitoring and educational resources.

The meeting was organized by the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme and the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre. Leading experts were from Europe, Africa, South America, the USA, China, Australia and Russia.