Rustam Minnikhanov: Sending the WorldSkills flag into space is a landmark event for our country

On December 17, during his working visit to Kazakhstan, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov attended the Baikonur Cosmodrome, from which the Russian Soyuz MS-07 spacecraft was launched, with the WorldSkills flag to be delivered to the International Space Station onboard.

The sending of the flag in space was held as part of the WorldSkills Flag Relay Project launched in October this year. On October 20, at the closing ceremony of the WorldSkills Abu Dhabi Championship - 2017, the representatives of the UAE handed over the flag to Kazan, the city to host the next world competitions. An official welcome event took place in Sochi at the World Festival of Youth and Students and the relay was launched.

During his meeting with the crew members, including Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, U.S. astronaut Scott Tingle and Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai, Minnikhanov wished them successful mission at the International Space Station to complete all the tasks assigned to them.   

Talking to journalists, Minnikhanov stressed that sending the WorldSkills flag in space is a landmark event for the whole country. "We believe that WorldSkills is not just a tribute to some fashion, but to a worker. We must raise the status of blue-collar jobs to make them as respected as our world champions or prizewinners of the Olympic Games. By and large, they perform similar tasks, they show the level of professional training of our country. We should hold this championship properly. It will bring to our country a culture of respect for blue-collar job workers,” Tatarstan President said.  

The flag will be brought back to Earth in February next year to continue its journey through the 33 cities that have hosted the WorldSkills Competition, across 21 countries. The flag will arrive in Tatarstan in 2019 before the opening of the Worldskills Championship Kazan-2019.

The 45th WorldSkills Championship will be held in Kazan from August 29 to September 3, 2019. Russia will host this international event for the first time.