8 March 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Independent Oil Companies To Get State Funds
Measures for state participation in the management of oil companies were considered at a meeting held by Deputy Premier and Economics and Industry Minister Sergei Kogogin on 7 March, Tatar-inform reported. Seventeen of Tatarstan's independent oil companies were represented at the meeting. For more efficient work of Tatarstan's independent oil companies, the Ministers' Cabinet was charged with developing measures on state support for oil companies. Oil company officials were asked to reorganize their firms into open joint-stock companies and to discuss the issue of selling 25.1 percent of the each company's shares to the state. The measure is not designed to lead to state interference into the activities of the companies but to help manage them in accordance with the property share of each entity and guaranteeing protection of the companies' interests in the extraction and sale of oil.
KamAZ To Hold Competition Among Engine Producers
The Economics and Industry Ministry of Tatarstan along with the Russian Science Ministry and the Chally small car plant will hold a competition this year on the delivery of engines for small car models made at the KamAZ truck concern, AK&M reported on 7 March citing the KamAZ' public relations office. Currently most spare parts, including engines, are supplied by the Tolyatti VAZ plant. According to the agreement with VAZ, 60,000 engines should be delivered to Chally in 2000, and in the future their volume will reach 80,000 annually. A new small car engine being currently developed at VAZ is scheduled to also be produced at KamAZ.
Government Wants Consumers To Save Energy
The efficient use of energy was on the agenda of a briefing in the Ministers' Cabinet on 7 March, Tatar media reported. Some 38 percent of all energy losses in Tatarstan are the result of irrational consumption, theft, non-payment of bills, and imperfect energy-saving technologies. Officials were told that a state program on saving energy is being developed by the fuel and energy department and the Economics and Industry Ministry. Deputy Economics and Industry Minister Anvar Karimov told journalists that the program includes four main directions -- considering the possibilities for the installation of meters in houses to record consumption, measures on saving energy in the organizations, on the state payroll, implementing power-saving technologies in industry, and the more efficient use of equipment and reducing losses in electricity companies. Losses at the KamAZ truck concern caused by a reduced power supply as a result of untimely payments for power reportedly resulted in some 2.8 billion rubles worth of lost production last year.
Tatar-Japanese Joint Culture Project
Television and Radio Company Tatarstan and the Tatar-Japanese Information and Culture Center in Sakura began performing a joint TV and radio project called "The Pearl of the Pacific Ocean Phenomenon," Tatar-inform reported on 7 March. The broadcasts are devoted to political topics and management methods that exist in Japan. The first issue will be about the constitutions of Japan and Tatarstan.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova