“The International Youth Esports Championship, the Festival of Modern Muslim Culture, the Scientific Congress, the Forum of Young Entrepreneurs of the countries of Organization of Islamic Cooperation — these and other mega-events will be held this year in Kazan, which has become the OIC Youth Capital,” said Mr. Timur Suleymanov, Minister of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan at a press conference at the “Tatar-inform” news agency on February 8.
More than 12 large-scale offline and online events will cover all spheres of life and development of the youth of the Islamic world: science, culture, sports, entrepreneurship, social engineering, education and creative industries. According to the organizers, about five thousand people will actively participate in this program.
“We consider the Global Summit of Ministers for Youth Affairs to be held in Kazan in May with the participation of about 200 delegates from 56 OIC member countries and observer countries as a key event,” said Mr. Timur Suleymanov.
– As life shows, specialists working with youth in different countries face the same challenges. Therefore, it is vital to have “platforms” for joint communication, exchange of experience and innovative practices, which will be delivered within “Kazan OIC Youth Capital 2022”.
“Kazan was chosen due to its diverse and rich cultural and civilizational heritage, its talented youth, its pioneering institutions working in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation and sports, its modern, cutting-edge infrastructure and great potential to provide the best experience for young people from OIC Member States and beyond. I am sure that Kazan will become the “bridge” that will connect peoples and states in solving urgent youth problems. It is especially important that we will work together in the year of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by the Volga Bulgaria and will be able to visit the sacred places for Muslims located in Tatarstan,” said Mr. Taha Ayhan, President of the ICYF.
The main program events under “Kazan OIC Youth Capital 2022” will begin in March with a competition of reciters of the Holy Quran, aimed at developing literacy in the study of the Quran and the ability to artistically read it in public. Host responsible for this competition is the republican movement “Selet” – a member organization of the OIC Youth Forum. According to the director of the Selet Youth Center Ms. Aigul Gabdrakhmanova, young people agedfrom18 to 35 from all over the world, both amateurs and professional readers of the Quran, will fly to Kazan to take part in the competition.
Also, in March with the participation of representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, the diplomatic corps of the OIC countries and the leaders of the Republic of Tatarstan, Moscow will host the official inauguration ceremony of Kazan as the OIC Youth Capital for 2022.
Kazan will receive a symbolic “key” of the OIC Youth Capital from the previous Youth capital, the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The international program “OIC Youth Capital” has been in place since 2016. Since then, the cities of Istanbul (Turkey), Shiraz (Iran), Putrajaya (Malaysia), Fez (Morocco), the Al-Quds region (Palestine), the cities of Doha (Qatar) and Dhaka (Bangladesh) have won the right to have such a status on a competitive basis. Now, for the first time, this series of events will take place in Russia, namely in the Republic of Tatarstan, city of Kazan.
Today, on February 8, social network accounts under Kazanyouthcapital and special website http://kazan.oicyouthcapital.com/ were launched. These resources are dedicated to the program “Kazan OIC Youth Capital 2022”. This was announced at a press conference by the chairman of the Academy of Youth Diplomacy Ms. Dilbar Sadykova.
She also announced the start of a large live marathon in February, which will cover schools, colleges anduniversities:
“ – Presentations of the program of events “Kazan – the Youth Capital of OIC-2022” will be held in educational institutions, so that as many as possible young people and potential partners will learn about them and, if desired will become the participants, volunteers, or part of a large team.
They will be able to express their ideas and wishes, which we will definitely try to reflect in the agenda of upcoming events. The youth of Tatarstan have a great interest in the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, we felt this well during the past joint projects. In the countries of the Islamic world, the youth population is high, somewhere it reaches up to50% of the population. Such a large community, which includes the youth of Tatarstan, has common fundamental values - the general humanitarian values of Islam. On these principles, which are sometimes called “halal lifestyle”, we will build our work during this year, uniting on a platform of common values, mutually strengthening, but at the same time maintaining the secular nature of the events,” concluded Ms. Dilbar Sadykova.
