Olga Golodets: Every Competition is a stage of WorldSkills development

Today, on 10 October, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Organizing Committee for preparation and delivery of WorldSkills Kazan 2019 Olga Golodets had a meeting with the representatives of the leading Russian media in the lead-up to WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017.

WorldSkills Flag Handover Ceremony to Kazan was one of the main point discussed today at the meeting.

The Ceremony will take place at the Closing Ceremony of WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017, which starts in 4 days in the capital of the UAE. WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 organizers will hand the flag to the representatives of Russia, host country of the next Competition which will take place in Kazan on 29 August - 3 September 2019.

One of Competitors of WorldSkills 2017 Competition, representative of the Russian Federation, who is entrusted with a responsible mission of a keeper of the flag, will carry it to the territory of Russia, Sochi, where the WorldSkills Flag Relay will start.

The WorldSkills Kazan 2019 flag is expected to visit several countries which have previously hosted a WorldSkills Competition. The Russian stage will feature the cities where the regional competitions have been held. Afterwards it will be delivered to the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 Competition.

"We expect the good results at the Competition in Abu Dhabi, as this will be a special event for us. At the Closing Ceremony, they will pass the baton to our country as Kazan is the next host city of the Competition. I would like to remind you how hard it was. The voting process was complicated. It took place in Sao Paulo. We won the right to host the Competition in a fair fight. The Tatarstan capital won the bid by beating Paris (FRA) and Charleroi (BEL). This makes the victory even more valuable. Today it is a start of our preparation to the Competition of 2019, which, as I hope, will be held on the level worthy of Russia, the level which will bring the WorldSkills movement itself to a whole new level!" said Olga Golodets.

The journalists have been also told about the readiness of the WorldSkills Russia team to the forth coming Competition in Abu Dhabi.

"I know that we have serious rivaling competitiors but our team is well prepared as well. For us, the Competition is not only about titles or medals. It is first of all attaining a world-class level of professionalism and competitions. Ability to work with up-to-date material and modern tools. After literally each event, after each Competition the skills get renewed and are immediately integrated into industry and production of a country. Today nearly half of the vocational schools in our country meet the WorldSkills standards, and half of the students are already learning the skills in accordance with world technologies. It is our main achievement. Today our secondary vocational education features 2,850,000 students. I hope we will accomplish in the nearest future our goal and exceed the WorldSkills standards through all the secondary vocational education system," said Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Olga Golodets.

Director General of WorldSkills Russia Robert Urazov also had a floor, "This year to Abu Dhabi goes our biggest team which will represent every skill of the Competition, 22 of them are new to us. In some of them we have never taken part. Our aim is not only the medals, but also the transfer of the technologies."

For the third time the team Russia featuring 58 Competitors will represent the country at the WorldSkills Competition. The team is entrusted with a serious task to show a high level of preparation and best results among more than 1,300 young professionals from 77 member countries. For the first time our team will compete for medals in all the 52 skills. No other country is represented in Abu Dhabi in its entirety.

Press Office of WorldSkills Kazan 2019 Competition Organizer