The flag will have travelled across 43 municipal districts and two cities of the Republic of Tatarstan by the time of reaching the Kazan Arena Stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the 45th WorldSkills Competition on 22 August.
The flag relay started in 2017 when the WorldSkills Flag was handed to Kazan, the next WorldSkills host city, during the Closing Ceremony of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. After that, the flag arrived in Sochi, Russia. In December 2017, it was launched into space and kept on board of the International Space Station for more than two months, before returning at the end of February 2018. After the start of the international leg of the relay in Madrid, Spain, the flag took a journey across 20 countries that had previously hosted WorldSkills Competitions.
The flag visited Germany, Netherlands, USA, Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Finland, France, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, Austria, Brazil, and Japan. The flag arrived in Russia from Chinese Taipei, where it was honoured at the 48th National Skills Competition. In each country, the logos of WorldSkills Competitions that took place there were put on the flag.
The Russian leg of the relay started at the Final of the 6th National Competition “Young Professionals” (WorldSkills Russia) in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in August 2018. The leg was held on the sidelines of local corporate and industrial competitions and visited centres of all federal districts. As part of that leg, the flag travelled across 24 regions of the Russian Federation where industry leaders and major enterprises are located.
The Tatarstan leg of the flag relay was announced open by President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Olga Vasilyeva at the Closing Ceremony of the 7th National Competition “Young Professionals” (WorldSkills Russia) held in Kazan on 20-24 May.
Nizhnekamsk was the first city in Tatarstan to host the WorldSkills Flag Relay. The event took place during the Day of Chemist celebrations at the Neftekhim Arena on 25 May. Rustam Minnikhanov and Mayor of Nizhnekamsk Aydar Metshin attached Nizhnekamsk’s coat of arms on the WorldSkills Flag as the first patch marking the launch of the Tatarstan leg of the relay. Coats of arms of all districts visited by the flag will appear on it by the end of the relay.
During 25 days of the relay, the flag travelled across 16 municipal districts of the Republic of Tatarstan. In each of them, students of vocational schools, schoolchildren, people from local towns and settlements, and workers of local enterprises welcomed the flag. The WorldSkills Competition mascots, Almaz and Altyn, are accompanying the flag relay.
In many districts, celebrations dedicated to the flag relay were combined with the traditional Tatar holiday Sabantuy. Participants of the event were told about the WorldSkills movement values and history. In Menzelinsk, the flag relay event was coupled with the award ceremony of young winners of the regional skills competitions and the 7th National Competition “Young Professionals” (WorldSkills Russia).
During the Tatarstan leg, the flag relay has 27 more stops to make in the districts of the republic. After a two-year travel, the WorldSkills Flag will reach its final destination to culminate the Opening Ceremony of the 45th WorldSkills Competition to take place in late August.
WorldSkills Kazan 2019
The 45th WorldSkills Competition – the main international event of 2019 in Russia – will take place in Kazan on 22-27 August 2019. More than 1,400 Competitors from 67 countries will compete in 56 skills.
Kazan won the right to host the Competition in 2015 having been ahead of other WorldSkills International member countries after voting. The WorldSkills Russia movement embraces all 85 Russian regions and is one of priority vocational talent development projects.
Press Office of WorldSkills Kazan 2019 Competition Organizer
