Rustam Minnikhanov the Director General of ISESCO Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik

On 29 August, speaking at his meeting with the Director General of ISESCO Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik in the Kazan City Hall held with participation of the Chairman of the Russian Movement of children and youth “The Movement of the First” Grigoriy Gurov, the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs Damir Fattakhov and Tatarstan Deputy Prime Minister Leyla Fazleyeva, the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov said that Tatarstan attaches great attention to development of relations with the ISESCO and highly appreciates the personal contribution of Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik  into facilitation and development of relations between the organization and the republic.

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - ISESCO established in 1981 is called the Islamic analogue of UNESCO and deals with issues of education, science and culture in Muslim countries which are the OIC members.

“Tatarstan is one of the leading Russian regions which actively interacts with the Muslim World and the OIC. At the same time our potential is not exhausted yet. We attach great attention to international humanitarian cooperation and preservation of the world heritage. The republic has three sites inscribed into the UNESCO World Heritage List, namely the Kazan Kremlin, the Ancient City of Bolgar and the Town Island of Sviyazhsk,”: Rustam Minnikhanov said and informed that another application for inscription into the list has been prepared for the Astronomical Observatory of the Kazan Federal University.

The Rais of the republic also invited Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik to take part in a meeting of the Strategic Vision Group “Russia-Islamic World” in October in Malaysia and informed him that traditional International Economic Forum “Russia-Islamic world) will be held in May 2024. Another important event to be held in Kazan in 2024 is the Summit of heads of BRICS and BRICS-plus countries and Rustam Minnikhanov said: “We will be happy to see you at this event.”

He also expressed his gratitude to the ISESCO Director General for his attention to Tatarstan and the Kazan Global Youth Summit and said he is sure that today’s communication will facilitate further interaction and promotion of culture, education and science in the Islamic world.

In his turn, Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik informed that it is his first trip to Kazan and underlined that currently there are many spheres for interaction. “We see that young people in Tatarstan have support. They are our future and our organization has 28 per cent of the staff who are younger than 30,” he said.

Salim bin Mohammed Al-Malik also stated that the ISESCO is interested in cooperation with Tatarstan and Russia and thanked for having invited him to the international events in Kazan, promising that he will take part in them.