On 28 April, speaking at a meeting of the organizational committee of the XIV International Economic Forum “Russia – Islamic World: KazanForum” held by Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin at the Kazan Expo exhibition center, the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov said that the KazanForum will become a new stage of development of cooperation between Russia and the Islamic world.

He stated that as of today representatives of more than 65 countries, more than 30 Russian entities, foreign ministers and diplomats have confirmed their participation in the forum. “This emphasizes the high status of the forum as the main platform of economic interaction of Russia and Islamic world countries within the work carried out by the Strategic Vision Group “Russia-Islamic World”. Large work has been done in preparing the business content of the forum and today we know that more than 750 speakers will take part in more than 150 business sessions during the forum”, Rustam Minnikhanov said.

In his turn Marat Khusnulin stressed that development of cooperation with Islamic countries is one of priorities of Russian foreign policy. “The President of the country Vladimir Putin has stated once and again that Russia will always broaden and deepen interaction with the Muslin world. And the KazanForum which is held at the federal level starting from this year, must play a key role in ramping up relations between our countries,” he said

The Counselor to the Russian President Anton Kobyakov, who is the Deputy Chairman of the Organizational Committee, gave more details of organizational issues in the forum preparation and holding.