On the 15th anniversary of Russia's accession to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation as an observer state, a specialized educational module has been launched in Kazan. Its main goal is to get to know the history of the OIC closer, as well as to study the details of Russia's interaction with the countries of the Islamic world.
To participate in the module, 100 participants aged from 18 to 35 years were selected who study Oriental languages, are interested in diplomacy and international relations, in particular, Russia's interaction with the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The training is conducted both online and offline and will last two days - December 14 and 15. It's noteworthy that the geography of participants went far beyond the Republic of Tatarstan - among the listeners, there are young people from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Barnaul, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Stavropol, Kursk and Vologda.
The organizers of the educational module were the project office of international youth cooperation on direction "Russia - OIC", Tourism Development Center of the Republic of Tatarstan, Academy of Youth Diplomacy, "Selet" foundation supported by the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs and Ministry of Youth Affairs of Tatarstan.
According to the organizers, the participants will attend a rich program, which includes lectures and masterclasses from the active diplomats, working in the direction of OIC. During the two days topics such as the establishment of the OIC and Russia's role in the organization, the relationship of religion and the OIC, the role of youth in the development of international cooperation within the OIC, and explore the basics of diplomatic etiquette in the Islamic countries and intercultural characteristics of the OIC countries will be disclosed.
As Director for Cooperation with the Diplomatic Corps and International Organizations "Leaders of International Cooperation" Evgeny Zakharenkov noted in his welcoming address to the participants of the module, it is in the hands of youth that all opportunities to expand facets and areas of cooperation between Russia and the Islamic world lie. The Group of Strategic Vision "Russia - Islamic World" plays a special role in this direction.
"The purpose of this group, as designated by Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan and Chairman of the Group, is to promote further rapprochement of the Russian Federation with the Islamic world on the cultural and civilization basis, establish contacts, expand economic, scientific, technical and humanitarian cooperation," the speaker recalled.
According to him, Tatarstan plays a special role in building close contacts. "Tatarstan has a fundamental potential that should be shared with the regions of Russia and OIC countries," he said.
This year on December 1, the project office of the OIC countries opened. It will work with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the basis of the Selet foundation, which represents Russia in the Youth Forum of OIC since 2012. The main objective of the project office is to support the interaction of Russian youth with the youth of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It is expected that within the framework of the office activity there will be regular work on the formation of the agenda of youth exchanges and visits of the Russian young leaders to the OIC countries, support to the youth organizations of the Russian Federation on interaction with the OIC countries, as well as a methodological base on the basics of interethnic communication with the OIC countries will be created.
Ilmira Gafiyatullina