Rustam Minnikhanov: Tatarstan has gained good experience in social and cultural adaptation of foreign citizens

On 18 November the Prime Minister of the republic Aleksey Pesoshin, the Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs Stanislav Bedkin, heads of regional ministries and directorates, cities and regions and leaders of public national and cultural and religious amalgamations took part in a meeting of the Council of the Rais of the republic on inter-ethnic and inter-confessional issues held by the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov in the Kazan Kremlin and dedicated to the topic” On Improvement of mechanisms of coordination of power bodies’ activities in social and cultural adaptation of foreign citizens”.

Speaking at the meeting, Rustam Minnikhanov stated that despite the external pressure the republic continues its dynamic development with the economy structure changing substantially, new productions opening and new jobs being created. The demand in specialists is becoming one of the most burning problems and this is happening on the background of the lowest unemployment level in the recent years, he said.

“The forecast of changes in the dynamics of the working population structure for the nearest future indicates the objective difficulty of solving the problem by using only our own manpower which explains attracting immigrant workers to the economy,” the Rais of the republic said.

He emphasized that people are coming here willingly which is explained not only by the fact that for many centuries Tatarstan is the place of peaceful coexistence of many ethnicities, but also has high level of professional education and science. The number of foreign students is rapidly growing every year and currently there are representatives from more than 120 countries studying at universities of the republic, Rustam Minnikhanov said.

However the growing of migrants’ flows caused the risks of inter-ethnic conflicts, formation of closed enclaves and penetration of proponents of radical ideologies into the republic, he stated and informed that the Russian Federation has already passed a number of strict but well-justified measures aimed at prevention of illegal immigration and worsening of inter-ethnic situation.  “All these demand systemic work both at the level of the republic and locally. Stability and well-being in economy, peace and concord in inter-ethnic environment will depend on timely and proper solution of arising issues,” the Rais of the republic said and stated that Tatarstan has gained good experience in social and cultural adaptation of arriving foreign citizens.

In his turn Stanislav Bedkin stated that the republic attaches great attention to inter-ethnic concord issues and is one of the examples of efficient implementation of national policy.

He also informed that the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs is planning to open centers for social and cultural adaptation of labour migrants in five pilot regions including Tatarstan, where specialists will inform the migrants in various issues including filling in necessary documents and norms of behavior in Russian society.