A delegation of Riga City Council visited on April 27th aboard the inaugural direct flight from the Latvian capital to Kazan.
The guests were greeted by Vice-Rector Linar Latypov and accompanied to an auditorium where students and other interested individuals had gathered. Dr. Latypov mentioned that KFU has links with Latvian University.
The floor was then given to Nil Ushakov who briefly introduced his city and his job. He said, in particular, “We have one of the highest interethnic marriage rates in Europe – 20% of ethnic Latvians are married to people of other ethnicities. For example, I am Russian, and my wife is Latvian. At home I speak to our child in Russian, and she – in Latvian, so he speaks two languages now”.
The students were very active and asked quite a lot of questions. They were interested in migration, cultural life in Latvia, the upcoming municipal election in Riga, Victory Day celebrations, and cooperation between Kazan and Riga. He answered that tourism is currently the main topic of interest. Kazan and Riga are similar in this way – both cities have seen soaring rates of incoming tourism in the last few years.
In conclusion Dr. Latypov told the visitors about the Association of Young Scientists. The Mayor answered that he would like to help in facilitating exchange between young researchers.
The sides then moved to a briefing room where a meeting with local universities was arranged. Each of the invited representatives told about their institutions and prospective cooperation areas.
Among other things, medicine was touched on. Vice-Rector Latypov talked about the KFU Medical Simulation Center.
The Tatarstani side offered Mayor Ushakov to hold a meeting between Tatarstani and Latvian academics and a science-culture-sports festival for students. He promised to assist in this matter.