By Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI: The North Caucasus Federal District, Russia, has been focusing on the Middle East and the UAE in particular to strengthen bilateral ties. The district has systematically created opportunities to showcase its cultural ties and is once again exploring the country with several key objectives. These include understanding how Dubai and the UAE have paved the way for excellence in hospitality, tourism and retail, firming up the cultural and sports exchange ties and to be able to create higher brand visibility for the North Caucasus region.
“Russia and the UAE are in a new phase of collaboration and the recent visit of President Vladimir Putin is testimony of the growing ties between the two countries. We have had long standing associations and exchange on the political, economic, and cultural fronts. At this point we are extremely happy with the on-going people to people connect. We are also assessing the possibilities for the North Caucasus region to build on these relationships and explore growth along with the UAE,” said, Odes Baysultanov, First Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for the North Caucasus.
The region had a special delegation of 120 people representing regional Ministry of Tourism, tourism information centers, regional convention bureaus, Destination Management Companies, expo venues and outbound tour operators. The trip was curated to ensure that the delegation gathered far reaching insights into the workings of some of the most well-run establishments of the country. These include, airlines, Dubai Parks and Resorts, EXPO 2020 site, Coco Cola Arena, Global Village, Dubai World Trade Centre, etc. A special team had meetings with senior representatives of Department of Tourism and Commercial Marketing of Dubai and the Dubai Sports Committee.
Aristov Stainslav, Director General, Fund “Visit Caucasus”, said, “As the head of Northern Caucasus Federal District Fund, we are facilitating governments of the region to come onto a single platform and make inroads in new and exciting markets. It is very important for us to build brand recognition and provide the impetus for new investors into our region. This will only be possible when we make a concerted effort to showcase the possibilities in our region and stress on the cultural and educational exchange opportunities we establish.”
A majority of the delegation experienced a series of master classes in hospitality training, tour operations, destination marketing and the creation and selling of tourist attractions. The team made a special presentation of the investment potential of Northern Caucasus at a special gala dinner attended by UAE tourism authorities and potential business investors from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.
“As the organizers of the business mission of the Norther Caucasus in the UAE, it was imperative for us to ensure that the key objectives that they set out to achieve were met in totality. We carefully selected, organized and implemented this trip with a mix of activities, visits and master classes that would be of interest to the multiple roles that the delegates represent,” said, Harmeek Singh, Plan b Group.
