2020 is a Cross Year of Russia and Japan. On September 25, within the framework of the IV Congress of the Association of Asian Universities and International Educational Forum "Altai – Asia 2020", a Round Table on Partnership Between Russian and Japanese Universities, Enterprises and Local Authorities was held online. The aim of the round table discussion was to consider the issues of cooperation through the regional consortia of universities, local authorities, private companies and other organizations for training specialists specifically for the region’s needs, as well as discussing the challenges that Universities are facing today and ways to overcome them.

More than 100 leading universities in Russia and Japan, united by longstanding partnership ties, took part in the event. During the plenary sessions, speakers shared their experience of interaction between Russian and Japanese educational and scientific organizations, and presented a new format and vision for the development of further cooperation.

Rustem Khabibullin, Professor of the Department of Meats and Dairy Foods Technology, represented KNRTU at the event. He spoke about the experience of cooperation between KNRTU and Japanese universities. Particular attention was paid to the implementation of a joint project dedicated to the biotechnological production of probiotics in the Republic of Tatarstan. The project partner was the Japanese company JFR Co, which has a representative office in Tatarstan. In December 2019, as part of a working visit to the Republic of Tatarstan, representatives of JFR got acquainted with the equipment, processes, automated systems for managing these processes and the laboratory "Engineering Problems of Biotechnology". Rustem Khabibullin also noted the importance of the fact that this project is supported by universities, commercial enterprises, municipal and state authorities, including the President of the Republic of Tatarstan –Rustam Minnikhanov.

In his report, he also mentioned the visit of representatives of KNRTU to Japan in December 2019, thanks to which KNRTU developed partnership with research and technology park Saitama, municipal authorities and industrial enterprises. Tokyo Institute of Technology became a partner of KNRTU, its strength lies in the high level of development, as well as in the strong staff, among whom there are 2 Nobel laureates.

At the end of the presentation, the Professor thanked the organizers for the opportunity to represent KNRTU at the Round Table and expressed hope for further development of cooperation with universities and scientific organizations in Japan.