Rustam Minnikhanov at a session of the Kazan Global Youth Summit: The task of any society is to give the youth a possibility for implementation of its potential

On 29 August speaking at a plenary session of the Kazan Global Youth Summit “Youth in the Global Agenda” held at the Kazan City Hall and which gathered 300 participants from 67 countries, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov reminded that in the current year Kazan has been chosen the OIC Youth Capital.

“We consider the decision to declare Kazan the Youth capital to be the proof of acknowledgement of merits and achievements of the Russian Federation and Tatarstan in youth policy and long years of strong ties between our republic and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It is important to stress that it is for the first time that this status is given to the OIC observer-country. The fact that this year we are celebrating a remarkable date of 1100 years of adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgaria adds special importance to this status”

He continued:” Adoption of Islam by our ancestors in 922 played a significant role in development of our state and Islam becoming one of the most leading religions of Russia. We attach special attention to interaction with the Muslim World and the OIC”.

“Tatartan is proud of its contribution into development of relations between Russia and this authoritative international organization. We have a continuous dialogue both with the OIC Central Office and its separate units, including the Islamic Development Bank, the OIC Youth Forum, the IRCICA and others. On the top of that the OIC supports the yearly summit of Russia – Islamic World: KazanSummit, which is an efficient tool of the Strategic Vision Group “Russia-Islamic World”,  which I preside by the errand of the Russian President Putin”, Minnikhanov said.

Today’s Summit also includes the Global Forum of Young Diplomats held in Kazan which discusses the most burning issues of international policy and Tatarstan President said: “The topic of today’s plenary session – “Youth in the global agenda is especially important under conditions of the instability in the world. Necessity to satisfy legal requirements of the youth and facilitation of solving its problems become an important factor in the policy of states and regions.

“On the example of Russia we can see how young people call for diversity of cultures, inter-ethnic concord and inter-religious interaction and international cooperation”, Minnikhanov said and noted that in this respect Tatarstan was and still is one of the most stable regions in Russia demonstrating unity and diversity of cultures and public solidarity. “The republic pays much attention to work with youth. The number of young people at the age of 14-35 makes 28 per cent from the total number of population in Tatarstan and we are trying to provide necessary support and use best practices in development of their social, economic and political activity”, he told.  

Thus today Tatarstan implements a number of large projects integrating the creative potential of the youth such as the Youth Assembly of People of Tatarstan, Salayt Youth Movement, the World Forum of Tatar Youth, the Academy of Youth Diplomacy and others.

Rustam Minnikhanov also said he hopes that the summit will have constructive and informative discussions and the expressed ideas and initiatives will serve strengthening of trust and mutual understanding between the countries and people and become the basis for new spheres of the global interaction of young people.