The WorldSkills Flag Relay continues its way through Europe. This time the WorldSkills Kazan 2019 team brought the Flag to Zwolle.
In a Closing Ceremony at the WorldSkills Netherlands National Competition at IJsselhallen (center for concerts and trade fairs), the WorldSkills Competitions in Amsterdam (1991), Utrecht (1966, 1977) were remembered, and patches from those Competitions added to the WorldSkills flag.
There was also a presentation of the next global skills competition, WorldSkills Kazan 2019, which will be held in Russia in August next year. The WorldSkills Competition brings together the very best young talent 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. After that it was delivered to Sochi and officially transferred to the Flag Relay project. 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. After the ceremony in Madrid the Flag started its journey to all 20 countries that have ever taken part in the WorldSkills Competitions.
The international leg of the WorldSkills Flag Relay started on March 12 in Madrid, Spain, where skills competitions began in 1950.
The Flag will also travel to Ireland, the United States of America, Belgium, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Chinese Taipei, Finland, Australia, Canada, Portugal, Switzerland, Brazil, Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, and Japan.
After the international phase of the relay is complete the flag will travel across Russia: 85 regions of the country, including 43 municipal districts and 2 cities of the Republic of Tatarstan. The relay is scheduled to culminate in Kazan on the day of the WorldSkills Kazan 2019 Opening Ceremony.
Press Office of WorldSkills Kazan 2019 Competition Organizer