Rustam Minnikhanov meets President of the Transitional Period of the Republic of Mali Assimi Goita

On 25 June, speaking at his meeting with the President of the Transitional Period of the Republic of Mali Assimi Goita , who has come on official visit to Russia, in the Kazan Kremlin, the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov thanked Assimi Goita for his visit to Kazan and the attention given to issues of cooperation with the republic. “During your stay in Tatarstan you will be able to have closer acquaintance with capacities of our republic, its history, culture and traditions. In our turn we will do our best to make your visit interesting and fruitful,” he said.

The Rais of the republic emphasized that lately Africa is demonstrating impressive rates of the economic growth and stated good opportunities for the development of trade and economic cooperation between Mali and Tatarstan. “We think there are good prospects of joint work in machine-building, processing production, agriculture and innovative branches,” he said.

Rustam Minnikahnov stated that cooperation with the Yadran Company which laid the foundation stone for a refinery in Mali is also promising.

He emphasized that the International Economic Forum “Russia-the Islamic World:KazanForum” is an efficient platform for the development of business bonds and said: “We will be happy to see a delegation from Mali at the KazanForum next year.”.

The Rais of Tatarstan informed that the republic is actively developing ties with Islamic countries and Kazan has got the status of the cultural capital of the Islamic world 2026. The republic is the pilot region introducing principles of Islamic banking and financing in Russia and is doing much work in the development of Halal industry. The Strategic Vision Group Russia-the Islamic world, which Rustam Minnikhanov is the head of since 2014 by the errand of Russian President Vladimir Putin, works successfully, he told to Assimi Goita.

Rustam Minnikhanov also attracted attention to opportunities of developing humanitarian contacts in education, culture, tourism and sports and informed that currently there are more than 22 thousand foreign students including 35 from Mali studying at universities of the republic. “We will be happy to have more of them,” he added.

In his turn Assimi Goita thanked for the warm welcome given to him. “Earlier we visited Moscow and had a meeting with the Russian President. We are grateful to Vladimir Putin for the support given to our country. Relations between our countries have rich history. Since 2022 we actively work to strengthen our cooperation in such spheres as expansion of trade and economic ties, mining industry, power engineering, transport, education and science as well as fighting terrorism,” the Mali President said.

He stated that his country is interested in developing bonds with Tatarstan.”Your republic is one of the leading regions of Russia having a great economic capacity. We are interested in working with the KAMAZ and other enterprises of the republic. The beginning has already been made: the Yadran Company will build a refinery in Mali. We should develop other joint projects,” Assimi Goita added.

After their meeting, Rustam Minnikhanov and Assimi Goita had a meeting with students of Mali studying at universities of Tatarstan.