MOSCOW - Evgeny Kozlov, the first deputy head of the Moscow Mayor and Government Office as well as the chairman of the Moscow City Tourism Committee, has said the sister-city agreement between Tehran and Moscow can greatly boost the partnership between the two sides in the tourism area.

“It is a two-step strategy. Firstly, you should have the partnership in official level. Next step, you should have the partnership with tourism firm. So, the two-step strategy is a winning strategy,” Kozlov said at the first BRICS Tourism Forum which was held in the Russian Capital on Friday, June 21.

In response to a question raised by the Tehran Times on whether the Moscow Tourism Committee have signed agreements or have any future plans like sister-city agreements to boost tourism ties between Moscow and Iranian cities, he said that his first business trip was to Tehran. It was a business forum, business meeting in Tehran. It was a formal sister-cities [meeting].

Moscow is a sister city with Tehran. And, you know, being a sister city is still not enough. Because tourism is the partnership between tourism operators and we should support at the federal level or the official level.

So, it is really important to hold the sister-city partnership between local authorities. But we should in addition have the partnership between businesses between Moscow and for example Tehran.

That’s why we had the business mission for Tehran last year and for the Russian side it was 19 commercial firms and tourist operators and 37 domestic commercial and tourism firms in Tehran.

Then later on, we will have tours from different cities of Iran here in Moscow. And they will not stay only in Moscow. They will be transferred to Kazan city – one of the biggest cities in Russia – to discover Kazan and to have the complete tour “Moscow plus Kazan”.

And as I mentioned before, tourism is about teamwork. We work in a strong partnership with the biggest city in Russia with to have Moscow+ tourism forum. You come to Moscow plus Saint Petersburg. You come to Moscow plus Kazan. You come to Moscow then to go to one of the biggest industrial cities here.

So, we have the connection with Isfahan. I was really shocked seeing the nature of Isfahan. There were a lot of caravansaries that were really nice, and really impressive. And you know, it is a two-step strategy.

Firstly, you should have the partnership in official level. Next step, you should have the partnership with tourism firm. So, the two-step strategy is a winning strategy.   

About the forum

The first BRICS Tourism Forum was held on June 20-21. The forum was attended by delegations from all nine member states, namely Russia, Brazil, Egypt, India, Iran, China, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and the Republic of South Africa.

The event gathered 300 representatives of business community and relevant agencies, as well as company leaders and industry experts.

It included expert sessions with the participation of the major market players and meetings of ministers for tourism of BRICS countries. 

Key themes

The first day of the forum included a closed meeting of the industry representatives, travel services, and other projects from various countries.

The second day was allocated to open events in which the speakers discussed the prospects for international cooperation of the BRICS countries.

“Today more than half of foreign tourists visiting Moscow come from BRICS countries, said Natalia Sergunina, the deputy mayor of Moscow.

Also, Maxim Reshetnikov, the minister of economic development of the Russian Federation, said, “This year Russia is the chairman of the expanded BRICS. The forum allows the BRICS countries’ tourist businesses to form solid alliances, sign mutually beneficial contracts, demonstrate the tourist potential of each country. This will help our countries to develop supply-side economy.”