The year 2022 has incorporated two major events for the entire global Muslim community. Apart from the fact that this is the year of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam as the state religion by Volga Bulgaria, Kazan also has gained the status of the youth capital of the Islamic world. Timur Suleimanov, the Minister of Youth Affairs of Tatarstan, reminded about it during the last press conference in Kazan.
As Taha Aykhan, the President of the Youth Forum of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, noted, it is not surprising that it is Kazan that has gained this status, since it is a city with a great cultural heritage and talented and bright young people.
‘Kazan has been chosen as the youth capital of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation because of its rich cultural heritage, talented and bright young people, modern infrastructure, innovative institutions working in the field of entrepreneurship, innovations, sports, and great potential to provide the best experience for young people from the OIC countries,’ Taha Aykhan noted.
The first event in the series of events will be the Holy Quran Recitation Contest, which will be held in late March, on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan. According to Aigul Gabdrakhmanova, the Director of the Salat Youth Centre, the participants of the contest will include not only residents from different regions of Russia, but also young people from the OIC countries.
‘At this event, we are expecting young boys and girls aged 18 to 30. They will be competing in two categories. Beforehand, we have taken a detailed look at international experience in holding this kind of contest,’ Gabdrakhmanova explained.
As Timur Suleimanov noted, 12 major events will be held throughout the year, including the International Youth Forum, sports competitions, a scientific summit, the Youth Cybersports Championship, the International OIC Racing for the Tatarstan President’s Cup and many others.
Perhaps the key event of the whole year will be the Congress of Youth Ministers from 56 countries, to be held in the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan in May. Within the framework of the meeting, it is planned to discuss intercultural dialogue and sustainable development of youth policy.
According to Suleimanov, the fact that Kazan has been declared the youth capital of the Islamic world for 2022 is a unique opportunity not only to share its own experience, but also to learn from the world’s best practices in shaping and organizing youth policy.
It is planned that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend the solemn ceremony of handing over the title of the youth capital of the Islamic world to Kazan. Suleimanov explained that a special golden key would be brought for the event and presented to the representatives of Tatarstan. At the moment it has not been decided yet where the key will be kept. There will also be a presentation of all the events scheduled for Kazan this year. Among the guests of honor at the ceremony there will be the ambassadors from the OIC countries that have representative offices in Russia.
A special website http://kazan.oicyouthcapital.com/ru/staytuned and a corresponding social media account have been set up for those who want to learn more information about the event. This was told by Dilbar Sadykova, the Chairman of the Youth Diplomacy Academy. Anyone can learn about the timetable of all planned events and take part in them. The website is available in Tatar, Russian and English.
‘We see that young people in Tatarstan have a great interest in interacting with the countries of the Islamic world. Today we have launched a website with the information on events planned in Kazan in 2022, so that young people from Tatarstan, other regions of Russia and OIC countries are able to become a part of these major events,’ Sadykova explained.