“Language mediation is a matter of national concern”, said Evgeny Grigoriev, Head of the External Relations Committee in the Government of St. Petersburg, during his visit to the Herzen University. First, the guest was invited for a tour of St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation. Evgeny Grigoriev examined the equipment and tools used for translation, and attended classes in interpreting and translation where he engaged the students in a discussion about the standards of translating documents, as per the  textbook by Irina Alexeeva. This was followed by a meeting in the School conference room where the participants discussed the School’s progress and the need for state support. Special focus was on the preparation to the IV International Conference of Universities which signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations. The conference will be hosted by the Herzen University in April 2015. Evgeny Grigoriev inspected the University halls as the venue for the Conference, and noted the quality of restauration works.. The Head of the Committee also visited the University library, and showed remarkable knowledge of and interest to the book culture. During the visit, Evgeny Grigoriev was accompanied by Vladimir Khodyrev, Advisor to the Governor of St. Petersburg, Sergey Goncharov, First Vice Rector, Dmitri Boikov, Vice Rector for International Affairs, Irina Alexeeva, SCIT Director, and Angelique Antonova, SCIT Deputy Director.