On April 26, the WorldSkills Flag Relay has reached Abu Dhabi in UAE, the place where the Flag Relay was initially started and the WorldSkills flag was officially given from Abu Dhabi to Kazan representatives.
During the Closing Ceremony of Emirates Skills National Competition 2018 the previous WorldSkills Competition that was held last year in the capital of UAE was remembered, and a logo patch from this Competition was added to the WorldSkills flag.
Present at the Ceremony were President of Emirates Skills, Ali Al Marzouqi, coordinator of WorldSkills Kazan 2019, Emil Gubaidullin, and WorldSkills London 2011 gold medalist in Plastering and Drywall Systems, Chief Expert for EmiratesSkills and Member of WorldSkills Champion Trust, Gary Condon.
"It is very symbolical for us to bring the Flag here to United Arab Emirates today, because Abu Dhabi is the exact place where the WorldSkills Flag was handed to our Organizing Committee at the Closing Ceremony of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017," said Emil Gubaidullin. "On behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Olga Golodets, I would like to notice that this is a unique project. For the first time in the history of the WorldSkills movement, the Flag is traveling to all countries that have hosted the WorldSkills Competitions. We all become participants of this wonderful new tradition and hope that the future Competition Organizers will continue it."
The international leg of the WorldSkills Flag Relay started on March 12 in Madrid, Spain, where skills competitions began in 1950. The event in Abu Dhabi at the ADNEC, the main venue of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017, was the sixth stop of the international section of the flag relay. There was also a presentation of WorldSkills Kazan 2019, which will be held in Russia in August next year. The WorldSkills Competition brings together the very best young talents in vocational skills and trades, to compete to be world champions in more than 50 different skills.
The Flag Relay started last year when the WorldSkills Flag was handed to Kazan, the next WorldSkills host city, on 20 October during the Closing Ceremony of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017. The flag arrived in Sochi, Russia the next day. It was then launched into space and kept on board the International Space Station for more than two months, before returning at the end of February. Since March 12 the WorldSkills flag has been travelling around the world, as it continues its journey across the 20 countries that have hosted the WorldSkills Competition previously.
After the international phase of the relay is complete the flag will travel across Russia, and the Republic of Tatarstan before being delivered to Kazan during the Opening Ceremony of WorldSkills Kazan 2019.
Press Office of WorldSkills Kazan 2019 Competition Organizer
