Rustam Minnikhanov meets with Ambassadors of Africa to Russia

Prospects of cooperation with African countries were discussed during the today’s meeting of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov and Ambassadors of Africa to Russia.

The meeting took place at the Kazan Kremlin.

To the point, a representative delegation of Ambassadors, Ministers-Counselors and representatives of embassies of African countries in Russia (18 people) are staying in Kazan for two days.

The guests have already visited Kazan Federal University, IT lyceum, sports venues and the Kazan Kremlin.

Welcoming members of the delegation, Rustam Minnikhanov expressed his gratitude for the interest towards Tatarstan and its economy. The visit of such a representative delegation is an important event for the Republic, he said. He added that Russia has been always interested in development of partner relationships with African countries.

There are many areas for potential cooperation between Africa and Tatarstan as one of Russian regions, such as oil industry, engineering, helicopter industry, education, tourism, culture and sport. Rustam Minnikhanov believes that educational cluster may be the most prospective area of cooperation. We should enhance relaions with African states in order to attract African students to Tatarstan universities. In particular, Kazan Federal University has serious instructional base, research infrastructure and modern student dormitories.

Rustam Minnikhanov invited members of African delegation to take part in KazanSummit 2014 on June 5-6.

The ambassadors and representatives of embassies, in their turn, thanked Rustam Minnikhanov for organization of their visit to Kazan and high-level reception. They declared Tatarstan to be the region where African students may receive quality education and feel like at home.

Proposals on cooperation in industrial, chemical, educational, and agricultural sectors were made during the meeting.

Representatives of some African countries were also interested in participation in KazanSummit 2014. It was also offered to organize a business mission to study the potential of African countries.

Representatives of Ethiopia, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritius, Guinea – Bissau, Chad, Tunis and Mozambique came up with their partnership proposals.