Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

President of Ingushetia: ‘What KSA Provides for Pilgrims is Amazing’ | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Ingushetia’s leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. Reuters


Riyadh- President of Ingushetia Yunus-bek Yevkurov arrived to Riyadh with a variety of economic and security files to boost joint cooperation between Russia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

After meeting with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Yevkurov said he felt “the Saudi leadership and the King are convinced of the necessity to consolidate bilateral relations.”

Yevkurov told Asharq Al-Awsat during a 70 minutes interview that his meeting with King Salman witnessed discussions on many important matters, including means of attracting Saudi investors to Ingushetia and possibility of exporting Ingush commodities to Saudi Arabia.

He said that the meeting focused on establishing economic relations between the Kingdom and Ingushetia through exporting Ingush commodities to Saudi Arabia in order to be exported from the Kingdom to other regional countries.

He also tackled his country’s intention to cooperate with Riyadh in preparing advisory programs for deviant group of people.

The Ingush President also talked about his country’s project to start exporting commodities to Saudi Arabia, starting from sending between 20,000 and 30,000 Tons of apples to the Kingdom, and “in the coming few years, this amount could reach 100,000 Tons.”

Yevkurov also expected the value of honey exported from Ingushetia to Saudi Arabia to amount up to 200,000 Tons annually.

He also talked about political, security, internal, regional and commercial matters.

When asked about methods of managing the presence of many different religions in one country without civilized, intellectual or political clash Yevkurov said: “We are lucky that Russia in general is a country whose people follow different religions and it is very wide, thus its history has never witnessed and religious or sectarian conflict and won’t by God’s will.”

He further noted that in Ingushetia there are two major religions, which are Islam and Orthodox Christians, and therefore churches and mosques are built equally in the country and people of different religions do not feel oppressed as they are capable of practicing their rituals without any restrictions.

The Ingush President also talked about fear of terrorism, which is spreading all over the world as Asharq Al-Awsat asked him whether there is a project implemented to prevent Ingushetia’s society from being affected.

Yevkurov answered that social media and internet are the main reasons behind the spread of these deviant ideas and thoughts among youth.

He confirmed that there is a group of people that sympathizes with all the oppression towards Muslims in Libya, Iraq, Syria and other countries, yet there is another group that is misleading, it insists on its mistakes and tends to the radical and extreme direction.

In this case, the government’s job lies in advising and communicating with this group through a committee for religious affairs in Ingushetia, and an advisor who communicates with the committee and stays up to date with all what happens in the country in this regard.

At the end of the interview, Yunus-bek Yevkurov conveyed his country’s best wishes for Saudi People and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosque’s government, especially that it takes care of the two Holy Mosques for Muslims all over the world.

He thanked all parties that participate in organizing Hajj rituals, describing it as amazing work.