Rustam Minnikhanov meets with Global Strategy and Leadership Development leader of "PricewaterhouseCoopers" Blair Sheppard

On May 22, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov met with Global Strategy and Leadership Development leader of "PricewaterhouseCoopers" (PwC) Blair Sheppard within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Rustam Minnikhanov thanked PricewaterhouseCoopers for their great work done as a partner and official supplier of consulting services for the Universiade 2013 in Kazan. He said that Tatarstan is interested in continuing cooperation under a number of projects.

Blair Sheppard, in his turn, said that today there are more than 200 employees working at Kazan office, the majority of which are graduates of Tatarstan universities. In particular, Blair Sheppard said the cooperation with Tatarstan may also be organized in the field of education, including projects related to work with gifted youth and children.

Rustam Minnikhanov said that the next international events that will be held in Kazan, World Aquatics Championships 2015 and FIFA World Cup 2018, may also be attractive for PwC.

He thanked the company for the attention paid to graduates of regional universities, and also noted that in general, this points to a high level of competence of the graduates and their compliance with the most demanding requirements of the employer.

We see that there are prospects for further cooperation, Rustam Minnikhanov continued, mentioning that large industrial enterprises and organizations, such as OAO "Tatneft", "Ak Bars"Bank have been cooperating with the company.

As for cooperation in the field of education, Rustam Minnikhanov said that the republic pays particular to this sphere. We are actively engaged in developing pre-school education, working with a Singaporean company Educare and using its experience and advanced training technology, Tatarstan President added.

In addition, a school for gifted children (chemical Lyceum, lyceum of humanities, etc.) has been established in the republic.

Rustam Minnikhanov also said that 25 resource centers for training highly qualified specialists will be set up in Tatarstan. It is important that companies open their offices at universities, which will enable preparing specialists that meet modern market requirements.

Rustam Minnikhanov continued that Innopolis and IT University in its territory is one of the major projects in Tatarstan. We want to become the IT capital of Russia and IT University will not only train specialists, but also attract them.

Tatarstan President offered PricewaterhouseCoopers to consider the possibility of becoming a member of Innopolis project. We want to see your company as a our strategic partner, he said.

The parties also discussed the possibility of attracting a number of companies as potential participants of the Innopolis project.