Radiy Khabirov met with OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities

On June 28, the Head of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, held a working meeting with the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Kairat Abdrakhmanov, who is officially visiting Russia for the first time. The parties discussed the development of ethnic and cultural diversity, the principles of implementing the language policy.

“In the OSCE, we decided to study the experience of the multinational societies development on the spot. Therefore, Bashkortostan became the first of the Russian regions where we arrived with an important mission,” the High Commissioner noted.

“Bashkortostan has been a real crossroads of cultures for many centuries. Many peoples came here, to the ancient land of nomads, and stayed here forever, meeting cordiality and friendliness. More than 4 million people live in our republic, representatives of more than 160 nationalities. We have a lot of mixed marriages. Since the 18th century, Ufa has been the official center of Russian Islam. At the same time, we have a large Orthodox metropolis, the largest Jewish cultural center in Europe. 15 native languages are studied in our schools, 15 national weekend schools operate in Bashkortostan. In addition, we are opening modern multidisciplinary multilingual schools. We already have four of them, and we will open 11 more by 2024. I also consider the holding of the World Folkloriada in our republic, which will take place from July 3 to 10, to be symbolic,” the Head of the Region noted.

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities thanked Radiy Khabirov for the warm welcome. According to him, Russia as a whole is a partner of paramount importance to the OSCE.

The High Commissioner also praised the republic's efforts in countering the coronavirus, measures to support the health care system in general, and the pace of socio-economic development of the region.

“I learned with interest about your project “Express Export Aid”, Kairat Abdrakhmanov noted. "We are interested in all OSCE countries providing their national communities with access to active social and economic activities."

The program "Preservation and Development of the State Languages of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Languages of the Peoples of the Republic of Bashkortostan" provides for the financing of projects for 3.65 billion rubles in 2019-2024, the program "Strengthening the Unity of the Russian Nation and Ethnic Cultural Development of Peoples in the Republic of Bashkortostan" in 2017-2022 - 1.4 billion rubles. Grant support for developing the national languages will amount to 227 million rubles in 2018–2021.