President of tatarstan warmly welomes sri lankan envoy to russia
3 June 2014
President of Tatarstan His Excellency Rustam Minnikhanov warmly welcomed Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Russian Federation His Excellency Udayanga Weeratunga in the Presidential Palace in Tatarstan’s capital Kazan on 3 June 2014. Ambassador Weeratunga toured Tatarstan on a 2-day visit from 2-3 June 2014 at the invitation of President Minnikhanov.
During their discussions which lasted for more than an hour, President Minnikhanov thanked Ambassador Weeratunga for finding time to visit Tatarstan. He expressed his desire to forge close links between Tatarstan and Sri Lanka. The discussions focused on the excellent relations that exist between Sri Lanka and Tatarstan as a constituent republic of the Russian Federation, developments in Sri Lanka and Tatarstan, the possibility of enhancing people to people contacts of the two countries and particularly the possibility of attracting investments from Tatarstan to Sri Lanka, mainly for tourism related infrastructure development. Ambassador Weeratunga expressed his appreciation for the warm welcome accorded to him. Ambassador Weeratunga also met the Deputy Minister of Tatarstan G Nigmatullin and President of the State Committee for tourismS Ivanovna. He also visited the Kazan Federal University.
Tatarstan is a constituent Republic within the Russian Federation and its capital city Kazan is one of Russia’s largest and most prosperous cities. Tatarstan is one of the most economically developed regions of Russia and is highly industrialized. The republic’s main source of wealth is oil and the most developed manufacturing industries are petrochemical industry and machine building.
The city of Kazan sits on the banks of the Volga River austerely, its cityscape a visual confection of architecture that somehow manages to be both playful and severe. With a population of 1,143,535, it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Amongst many places of interest within the city of Kazan, the Kazan Kremlin stands out. It is the chief historic citadel of Tatarstan. The Kazan Kremlin includes many old buildings, the oldest of which is the Annunciation Cathedral (1554-62), the only 16th-century Russian church to have six piers and five apses. Like many of Kazan’s buildings of the period, it has been constructed using local pale sandstone rather than of brick. It was declared a World Heritage Site in the year 2000.
Coinciding with the visit of the Sri Lankan Ambassador, a multi-faceted Sri Lankan cultural programme including a tour by the Mega Tourism Caravan-6 was also organized in the city of Kazan. On 2 June, performances of Sri Lankan dances were conducted in the famous MEGA Kazan Mall. In addition to traditional Sri Lankan dancing performances, distribution of leaflets/souvenirs, tourism promotional video display and liquid Ceylon tea service was successfully carried out. The large number of people who flocked to enjoy the performances of Sri Lankan dancers and other cultural items was a true testimony to the success of the programmes in the city of Kazan. The morning Shopping Mall Activation was followed by another one in the evening which included the same cultural and other activities, drawing a large crowd.
Overall the visit of Ambassador Udayanga Weeratunga to Tatarstan was a resounding success. The visit not only provided opportunity to meet the leaders of Tatartan at the highest level, but also to provide a glimpse of rich Sri Lankan culture to the people of Tatarstan and to create awareness about Sri Lanka as a tourist destination among them.
