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WorldSkills International Vice President for Strategic Affairs Jos de Goey and the organisation’s Chief Executive Officer David Hoey also attended the meeting.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, Minister of Education Olga Vasilyeva, President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Special Presidential Representative for Digital and Technological Development Dmitry Peskov and Director General of the Union Young Professional (WorldSkills Russia) Robert Urazov represented the Russian delegation.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Bartley, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you once again. I would like to thank you for the trust accorded us in organising this major, very useful and beneficial event. I hope that you enjoyed it. I know that Kazan, Tatarstan and all of us at the level of the Government of the Russian Federation have done everything in our power to organise the event at the highest level.

Mr Bartley, I would like to thank you for your support.

We have 63 countries and 66 competencies. Thank you very much for your praise of the Russian team’s performance.

In turn, I would like to thank you for everything that you have done for WorldSkills International. We will be happy to work with your successor, and we will prepare for the European championship in St Petersburg in 2022. We will do our best, just like here in Kazan. I do not know anything more important and interesting, especially for young people, than the organisation of such competitions.

Here in Russia we are trying to overhaul our vocational training system in such a way that it would meet the current and future needs. And, of course, the organisation of such events helps us all a great deal.

Thank you very much:

President of WorldSkills International Simon Bartley: Mr President, thank you for your kind words, but let me reciprocate by saying that it was your vision to bring WorldSkills to Russia and to host it in Tatarstan, in the city of Kazan, for which we should be grateful.

You and everybody involved with the project have kept the promises of creating a WorldSkills Russia that will really make a difference to your young people.

Since we met in the Kremlin nearly five years ago, we have watched – not only as WorldSkills, but our members also – with amazement, at the spread of high quality excellence across the 85 regions of Russia.

Whilst we leave the great success here in Kazan behind us, we will continue to watch what is happening as part of the legacy that has been created across Russia. The initiatives that we created here of JuniorSkills and FutureSkills as part of the event, I believe, will increasingly be part of the mission of the WorldSkills competition.

And finally, let me agree with you. I do not believe there is anything more important to the young people of the world, not only Russia, than having a sustainable, well-rewarded and interesting career in skills of the future.

Vladimir Putin: What do you expect from us in St Petersburg in 2022?

WorldSkills International Vice President Jos de Goey: Well, firstly, your offer of further partnership we gladly accept because, I think, Russia has shown that WorldSkills accelerates skills development. And with EuroSkills, that is an opportunity to further develop skills in Russia.

But also with instruments like the WorldSkills Kazan Declaration and instruments like SkillsJuniors, Russia has shown that you can add new features to the competition, to the movement, which are very important on national level and also on international level.

WorldSkills wants to improve the world with the power of skills. Russia made another step in that development. And I’m looking forward to working together with my colleagues from Russia to export, to involve the rest of the world in that equal opportunity programme.

Spasibo. I’m looking forward to the continuation of our partnership.

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