Makhachkala, January 27, 2012. Kiev hosted the VI Forum of Creative and Scientific Intelligentsia of the CIS countries, to which the International Association of Academies of Sciences (IAAS) dedicated a number of activities, the press service of Dagestan Scientific Center RAS reported. One of them was the fifth session of the Book Publishing Council (BPC) at IAAS. It was organized by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Publishing house "Academperiodika" NAS and Moscow Research Center of History of Book Culture Studies, with support of the International Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation of CIS countries.

Within the framework of the session there was held the International conference on "Historical and cultural cooperation among the CIS countries in book publishing and book exchange" which summed up the annual international competition for the best scientific publishing project in 2011 "Research Paper". The competition was held traditionally in five categories: "Grand Prix", "Science on book," "Natural sciences", "Humanities", "Social Sciences", "Commonwealth".

The fundamental collaboration monograph "Dagestan at the crossroads of cultures and civilizations: The humanitarian aspect: To the 85th anniversary of Academician G.G.Gamzatov" prepared by the Institute of Language, Literature and Art DSC RAS with support of the Russian Humanitarian Foundation won in the category "Social Sciences".

The book covers the spiritual culture of the peoples of Dagestan in the widest variety of aspects and meanings - as the artistic phenomenon as a humanitarian complex and as an aesthetic complex. The authors identified and comprehended the most important aspects of the historical, social and spiritual development of Dagestan as a unique geo-and ethno-political region of Russia in the past and present. Particular attention was paid to the study of important aspects of the relationship of Dagestan with the Middle East (Arab World, Iran and Turkey) and Europe (Germany, France, England) in the historical and cultural sphere. The work is an attempt to show the image of Dagestan in the historical past and the modern world.