Distance is not a trouble for friendship
On July 13 the Moscow Region Chess Federation signed an important memorandum on cooperation with the Togo Chess Federation
Right after the last moves of the simultaneous game performed by the MRCF president Sergey Karjakin against the chess players from Togo and Mozambique were made, the multiple world champion signed a Memorandum of cooperation with the Togo Chess Federation. The document was signed as a part of our Federation project “Chess diplomacy in Africa” and laid a firm base for strengthening humanitarian and sports relations with the Togolese Republic.
The Russian senator Sergey Karjakin pointed out the importance of such an agreement: Lome and Moscow are thousands of miles away from each other but that is exactly where our goal is to make friendly countries closer to each other and strengthen ties between partners. This year we are celebrating the 65-th anniversary of Russian and Togolese bilateral foreign relations. The signing of the Memorandum of cooperation is not just a protocol event. This is a first step to strengthen humanitarian ties. Russia will now be ready to share its chess competence with Togolese friends far away!”
In his response word the Togo Chess Federation president Abby Edah Ndjelle pointed out the real perspectives of collaboration with the MRCF: “The Memorandum is very concrete. Frankly speaking we speak about overwhelming assistance in educating our young talents, national team members and improving the trainers’ capabilities. These are all real actions and this is a real value of our collaboration with Karjakin’s team”.
The MRCF executive director Albert Minnullin who took part in the signing ceremony said: “We are witnessing an objective demand of the African countries and Togo as an integral part, for assistance. Russia as a leading chess state was always well known for rich chess knowledge and experience. We are planning to start online chess lessons with Togolese juniors in a very short time and will allow local coaches to increase their knowledge. This process is not fast but the results that we will get are certainly worth it. This Memorandum is a good investment in the future of African chess!”
The Federation treasurer Bruno Botsoe who was also present at the signing ceremony mentioned: Not long ago the Minister of Sports and Leisure Sidi-Bessi Kama made an official visit to Russia and performed important negotiations with the Russian Minister of Sport. We can say that this Memorandum is the net step in sports cooperation between our two countries. Russia is indeed a reliable partner for us and Sergey Karjakin’s team does a great and a very important job!”
The MRCF and the Togo Chess Federation Memorandum includes various cooperation aspects including participation in different chess tournaments, training sessions, cross visits, seminars and other events and creating a bilateral commission in order to coordinate chess collaboration between the two countries.