State Advisor of the Republic of Tatarstan, First President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev addressed the participants of the meeting of the Group of Strategic Vision "Russia - Islamic World".
"The day of celebrating the 1,100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgars is an important day and we thank the leadership of our country for celebrating this event. It is the result of many years of work. Step by step, we established friendly relations with the Islamic world, on the other hand we have conducted archaeological research for 12 years without any interruption.
Russia managed to build a fruitful cooperation with the OIC. The dialogue with the OIC starts when Russia joined the organization as an observer. In 2006 a decision was made to organize the Group of Strategic Vision "Russia - Islamic World". The most important members agreed that it is important to conduct a dialogue on the basis of friendship and partnership. Western civilizations do not have clear guidelines on Islamic issues. This led us to believe that our republic has a great deal of experience in this area.
Meetings of the Group were held in Kuwait, Istanbul, Jeddah, and Kazan. From the very beginning we have chosen the path of inter-religious harmony, emphasizing that Islam not only recognizes other religions but also interacts with them. As an example, the Republican Revival Foundation, established in 2010. In 2019, the Foundation completed the revival of the ancient cities of Bolgar and Sviyazhsk, which were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. All decisions on the restoration of the historical heritage of Islam and Orthodoxy are made simultaneously. This is a guarantee of peace and good neighborly relations", he stated.
In addition, Mintimer Shaimiev in his speech spoke about the creation and activities of the Bulgarian Islamic Academy. He emphasized that the Academy's activities are supported at the federal level.
The first President of Tatarstan reminded the participants of how Tatarstan was on its way to the present day, how the revival of national and religious traditions began: "At the beginning of the revival there were only 23 mosques in Tatarstan, today there are about 1,500 mosques!".
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: official website of the State Adviser of the Republic of Tatarstan