Rais of Tatarstan” We attach great attention to development of trade and economic contacts with Muslim countries

On 17 May, speaking at his meeting with a delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) headed by the Representative of the OIC Secretary General on Political Matters Mohamed Salah Tekaya on the sidelines of the XV KazanForum , the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov said that the republic attaches huge attention to the development of trade and economic contacts with Muslim countries. 

He thanked members of the delegation for taking part in the Forum and expressed his gratitude to the OIC for supporting it. 

“Just recently, as the Head of the Russian delegation, I took part in the XV OIC Summit in Gambia which discussed many issues worrying the Islamic world,” the Rais of the republic said and congratulated participants of the meeting with the 55th birthday of the OIC. 

“Tatarstan is proud of its contribution into development of relations between Russia and the OIC. I met the OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha many times and our contacts with the Organization administration are becoming a good tradition. We are pleased with the dynamic and level of our relations established in last years,” he said. 

He also told about close cooperation of the Strategic Vision Group “Russia-the Islamic World” with the OIC and the established dialogue of Tatarstan with the OIC Central Office and its structures, such as Islamic Development Bank, IRCICA, ICESCO and others. 

Rustam Minnikhanov emphasized that the development of cooperation with Islamic world is the priority of the Russian foreign policy and stated that last year the trade turnover with OIC countries increased by 83 per cent and reached 5.7bn US dollars. 

He also said there are good prospects for joint work in the spheres of Islamic economy, Halal industry, education, tourism, culture and sports.

In his turn Mohamed Salah Tekaya gave high assessment to the personal input of the Rais of Tatarstan into strengthening of bilateral relations between Russia and OIC countries. “Huge work is done by the Strategic Vision Group and yesterday I saw a very high level of interest from Muslim countries to cooperation with Russia. The work of Group facilitates this a lot. Russia is a strong and reliable partner of the Islamic world,” he emphasized.