Mintimer Shaimiev congratulates youth

On December 29, Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev invited young people to the Kazan Palace of Sports to celebrate New Year and Millennium. The first New Year's ball brought together senior pupils from different corners of the republic, whereas students of technical and higher educational institutions, working youth gathered at the Palace in the evening. They watched a magnificent procession, representing centuries-old history of mankind, luminous effects and laser show.

The parting century was not easy, it was a century of contradictions, for the progress of mankind is always accompanied by bloodshed, revolutions and transformations, President Mintimer Shaimiev told the young people. There comes the new time, new century, new millennium. And it is your century, it will become what you make of it. Everything is in your hands, the President emphasized. 2001 is announced the Year of Youth by the Presidential Decree, this is a good beginning, because both the first year of the coming century and the century belong to the young.