From 4th to 8th April, 2021, the city of Tanta (Arab Republic of Egypt) hosted XXVI Forum on Training Arab Students at Tanta University. The Forum was organized by the Arab Council for Student Training and Innovation (ACSTI) supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Association of Arab Universities.

More than 50 representatives of Egyptian and Arab universities from Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, UAE, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Kuwait took part in the Forum. Russia was represented by Dr Bashir Samaha, a PSU partner, advisor to the General Secretary of the Association of Arab Universities, General Director of the National Arab-Russian Association; Adel Maqbol, Chairman of the International Students Association of the Penza Region.

In his welcoming speech, Professor Amr Ezzat Salama, General Secretary of the Association of Arab Universities, emphasized the important role of universities in training highly qualified personnel for the economies of Arab countries. He also noted that relations with Russian universities are developing dynamically, which is also thanks to the active work of Dr. Bashir Samakha.

The delegates from the Russian Federation presented Penza State University and said that the University has about 20,000 Russian students and more than 2,000 international students, of which more than 500 are from 11 Arab countries. The Forum participants noted that the Russian-Arab Cultural Center was organized at PSU, and representatives of Tanta University expressed their intentions of organizing an academic exchange of students for studying the Arabic language. Also, negotiations were held on the possibility of PSU Medical Institute students to have practical training at Tanta University, which has 22 clinics.