Ilsur Metshin to Vladimir Putin: “Not everyone wants to look at the world through Western glasses”

Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a videoconference meeting of the Council for Local Self-Government Development. The Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin took part in the meeting. He spoke about the changes occured in the capital of Tatarstan thanks to the system solutions adopted at the federal level, and also raised the issue of international cooperation with the World Organization “United Cities and Local Governments”.

Ilsur Metshin thanked the President for the system-wide attention to municipalities. Fifteen years ago, at a visiting meeting of the Security Council, a decision was made on a housing stock renovation program. In total, 3.5 thousand residential buildings have been renovated in the capital of the republic of Tatarstan – this is 85% of the demand. “No municipality, no city could afford it,”- I. Metshin stressed.

Over the past 10 years, 14 schools, 91 kindergartens, dozens of social facilities have been built in the city, 42 parks have been established. The population growth during this period amounted to 132 thousand people.

The Mayor of Kazan also focused on the international activities of municipalities. He reminded that for 20 years dozens of Russian cities have been actively engaged in the World Organization “United Cities and Local Governments”. “Municipalities exchange best practices and implement the goals of sustainable development of territories, - I. Metshin noted. “In the face of attempts to isolate our country on all fronts – politics, economy, sports, culture – there were attempts to turn this organization into an anti–Russian tribune.”

He spoke about the situation that happened in November at the World Council in South Korea, where municipalities from 140 countries participated. “It was a pleasant surprise for us when our colleagues from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, the Pacific region, the People's Republic of China supported Russia with a united front. We were elected to the UN Advisory Committee of Local Authorities, which unites 300 thousand municipalities. And the speech of our colleague from Senegal was indicative, who said that Europe and unfriendly countries are only 700 million people, and 7 billion people live in the world. They asked me to convey their words of gratitude and success to you! Not everyone wants to look through Western glasses at what is happening in the world, and they support us. I would like to inform you about this.”

I. Metshin reminded that Kazan will host the BRICS Summit in 2024. “It is a great honor for us to start preparing this event. This will be a new page in our international agenda,”- the Mayor said in conclusion.

After Ilsur Metshin's speech, the President of Russia noted: “The trend towards multipolarity is inevitable, it will only increase. Those who do not understand this will not be in this trend and will lose. This is an absolutely obvious fact. Those who try to prevent this will only face new problems. We are going our own way and showing good results.”

The agenda included municipal service’s human resources potential, the spatial development of municipal entities and the specifics of local self-governments’ work in the integrated public authority system.