On June 29, at Zarechie health camp near Kazan Interim President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov took part in the opening ceremony of the 2nd Regional Field Olympiad of Young Geologists.

The opening ceremony began with a solemn march of the Field Olympiad participants. Representatives of 30 teams from Tatarstan, Bakhchisarai region of the Crimea and Kazakhstan gathered at the solemn event.

“The skills a geologist needs need to be formed in school,” Minnikhanov stressed speaking at the event.

He noted that the revival of the mass movement of young geologists became one of the most important decisions in the life of the republic. "I am sure that thanks to the work we are doing together with our oil companies, we will be able to attract a lot of highly qualified specialists to this field,” Minnikhanov continued.

“We should not confine ourselves to Tatarstan but work on all the minerals that are impossible to find and develop without geologists,” he is convinced.

“We have a great 200-year-old university that in terms of geology is the leader of the country. Our oil companies have a great school of geology. Every component is available for us to be able to compete in this area,” Minnikhanov went on to say.

In his turn Tatneft General Director Nail Maganov, who also took part in the event, added that geology is a kind of "megascience", including not only the physics and mathematics, but also a huge number of other disciplines. "Moreover, it is not a rigid science, it is developing every day. All the innovations that appear in the world today, are demand in your field,” he said, referring to the participants of the Olympiad.

The Field Olympiad will take place until July 14. Young geologists will take part in various competitions in the fields of mineralogy, paleontology, radiometry and cultural events.

Following the results of the Olympiad a team of the republic of Tatarstan to take part in the X All-Russia open field competition of young geologists, which will be held from 30 July to 10 August 2015 in Tyumen, will be formed.