Hospitable Kazan hosted a large-scale event - the XVI International Economic Forum ‘Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum’, which was held at the Kazan Expo International Exhibition Centre.

The Forum has established itself as an effective international platform for the development of partnership relations and mutually beneficial co-operation between Russia and the states of the Islamic world. The event brought together representatives of business, government agencies and international organisations to discuss effective cooperation in Islamic finance, the halal industry, digital technologies, logistics and tourism.

This year's forum was attended by representatives of 103 countries, with each delegation comprising more than a hundred people. There were 141 conferences in 20 different areas. 600 volunteers were selected to help with the event, including 530 from the Republic of Tatarstan.

Eight students from the Volga Region University of Sport and Tourism also took part in the forum events as staff and volunteers who were responsible for helping with transport.

- I learnt about the forum through the volunteer community, many friends and acquaintances were planning to take part in the large-scale event. The peculiarity of participation in the event is the interaction with representatives of foreign countries, thanks to which there is an opportunity to practice a foreign language in communication with guests,’ said student Ksenia Emelyanova, one of the forum's volunteers.

The event touched upon all important economic areas in the international interaction of Islamic countries and will give a start to new projects to be implemented in the Republic of Tatarstan in the future.

- This is one of the central events that Kazan traditionally hosts, and it is also international in scope. First of all, it gives us an opportunity to see the organisation of volunteer activities from the inside. And also to learn a lot of new and interesting things, to gain invaluable experience that will be remembered for a long time,’ said student volunteer Ilya Zaporozhsky.

The forum also touched upon the topics of tourism, sports and education. These included routes for tourists from Islamic countries to Russia, issues of cooperation and camaraderie in major sporting events, and issues of cooperation between Russia and the countries of the Islamic world in the field of education.

Text: Ulyana Shuklina