On September 27, 2012, a delegation of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg led by H. E. Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister, visited Kazan Federal University.

Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, H. E. Mr. Etienne Schneider, the Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in the Russian Federation, H. E. Mr. Pierre Ferring, and other officials and representatives of business circles of Luxembourg were among the delegation members.

The honoured guests were accompanied by the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Mr. R. Minnikhanov.

Reference information: the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg (with the territory of 2586 sq. km) is bordering on Belgium, Germany and France. Population of the country is 502 thousand people, with about 200 thousand being foreigners (mainly Portuguese, Italians, and Frenchmen). The city of Luxembourg is the capital of the country. The country has three official languages: Luxemburgish, French and German.

Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, H.E. Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, is the leader of the Christian Social People’s party of Luxembourg. He is considered to be one of the architects of the Maastricht treaty. In 2004 he was a candidate for Chairman of the EU Commission.

Rector Ilshat Gafurov, acting Minister of Education and Science of the RT Mr. Daniil Mustafin and KFU students welcomed the delegation.

Prime-Minister of Luxembourg arrived in Kazan in the framework of a working visit to the Russian Federation. Tatarstan-Luxembourg business forum, which was held in the capital of our Republic, was of a special interest for the public officers of the Grand Duchy.

Reference information. According to the data provided by the respective statistics body, commodity turnover between Tatarstan and Luxembourg made 690 thousand dollars in 2011. Tatarstan exports optical devices and instruments to Luxemburg and imports reactors, kiers, and products made of ferrous metals.

In the first place, the guests were brought to the Museum of History of Kazan University, and each showcase with unique documents, belongings of famous people, books and photos was attentively studied by the delegation. After getting acquainted with the history of KFU, H.E. Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker was invited to the Assembly Hall, where he made an unusual entry in the form of a heart in the Honoured Guests book.

It should be noted that this visit is not the first visit of the Grand Duchy representatives to KFU. On August 02, 2012 H. E. Mr. Pierre Ferring, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg in the Russian Federation visited Kazan Federal University being accompanied by the First Secretary of the Embassy, Ms. Lynn Hansel. During the visit the Ambassador had a meeting with KFU President, Mr. M. Salakhov, and Vice-Rector for International Relations, Mr. L. Latypov. The parties discussed the opportunities for co-operation, and it was established that nanotechnologies, security and reliability of information technologies, the science of life, are the high-priority fields of cooperation for both parties. As we can see, the agreements achieved in August have got a continuation: a keen interest is taken in KFU by heads of the Grand Duchy.

It is very important, that there has been a Program of Cooperation in the Field of Science, Education, Culture and Sport signed between Russia and Luxembourg. Thus, there exist grants for Russian students and teachers studying the French language in the Language Centre of Luxembourg (Centre de Langues a Luxemburg), as well as for those who enter the University of Luxembourg for mastering a two-year program “Computer sciences and Management Study’. The teaching language is French.

Graduates of Russian higher education institutions awarded the diploma of bachelor or the 5-th year students, whose speciality is jurisprudence, can use a grant to take a Master’s Degree program in the field of European legislation (DESS en Contentieux communautaire). Requirements set for applicant are knowledge of the French language and basic knowledge of European legislation. The program length is 2 years.