Sergei Gavrilov: relations of North Caucasus and Islamic world should be welcomed

North Caucasus republics are actively participating in interstate and interregional projects with the Islamic world, the chairman of the State Duma Committee for Development of the Civil Society and the Issues of Public and Religious Associations Sergei Gavrilov said, speaking with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza.

"All North Caucasus republics, including Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya, participate in various cultural and economic ties with the Islamic world to varying degrees, with its various representatives - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria. In particular, Russian servicemen and law enforcement officers from Chechnya and Ingushetia actively participated in the peacekeeping mission in the Syrian Aleppo and showed the highest moral and combat qualities," he said.

"I know that this activity of our Caucasian regions has reached especially high levels thanks to the activities of Chechnya's leadership, which is actively working with the Gulf countries, and the leadership of Ingushetia. I think that this work allows making relations between Russia and the Islamic world more multilayered, more fundamental, especially since it is not solely based on the high level state meetings or major global investment projects. It is also about the activity of regional business and about joint cultural and tourist programs, this is largely due to the performance of the hajj pilgrimage by muslims of the North Caucasus," Sergey Gavrilov said.

The chairman of the State Duma Committee for Development of the Civil Society and the Issues of Public and Religious Associations stressed that such a deep, interregional and interpersonal level of relations between the North Caucasus republics and the countries of the Islamic world "should be welcomed".

"We plan to visit a number of the North Caucasus republics this year and meet with its leaders, including spiritual leaders, with whom we have regular contacts, since we are in active collaboration with the muftis and the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church to solve common social problems of assistance most suffering segments of the population," the deputy said.