The 15th Russia-Islamic World Kazan Forum took place on 14-19 May in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. The Forum aims to offer a platform for organizations and specialists from the OIC Member States and the Russian Federation to increase cooperation in the economic, educational, social and cultural spheres. The RF is an Observer State of the OIC since 2005 and IRCICA has been active in the cultural areas of this cooperation through the linkages it had established with academic circles of the Russian Federation and its Republics since the beginning of the 2000s.
The 15th Kazan Forum comprised a large number of thematic sessions under the general themes of “International Cooperation”, “Business”, “Real Estate Exhibition”, “Science and Technology”, “Islamic Finance and Investments”, “Halal Industry”, “Female Perspective”, “Staff Today and Tomorrow”, “Culture”, “Economy”, “Media Activity”. Sessions on different topics were held under “Culture”, including “Russia-Islamic World Cultural Bridge” and “Intersectoral Cooperation in the Film Industry” organized by the Ministry of Culture of Russia; “Islamic Cultural Heritage as a Resource for Development” and “Digital Art in the Islamic World” convened by the Ministry of Culture of Tatarstan, with the participation of country delegates, the OIC subsidiaries and institutions. IRCICA was represented by Prof. Cengiz Tomar, Head of Research and Publications, who addressed the Panel of Young Diplomats held on 16 May 2024 with a presentation titled “A Successful Example of Cultural Diplomacy: IRCICA’s Cultural Studies on Islam in Russia”. Prof. Tomar also gave a talk during the press conference marking the closing of the Kazan Forum on 17 May 2024, about the edition, prepared for publication by IRCICA, of the previously unpublished 7-volume work on Islamic history Wafiyyat al-aslāf wa taḥiyyat al-akhlāf authored by the eminent Tatar scholar Shihabetdin Marjani (d. 1889).
