8 December 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
'Consent' Commission To Meet In Kazan
Tatarstan State Council chairman Farid Mukhametshin and the deputy presidential representative of the Volga Federal District, Aleksandr Yevstifeyev, agreed in Kazan that the next session of the bilateral "consent commission" engaged in harmonizing Tatarstan's legislation with Moscow's will be held in Kazan next week, Tatar Radio reported on 7 December. The sides expressed their satisfaction with the course of the efforts uniting the legislative space. They also discussed the schedule through the end of the year, and land reform and legislation on local self-government will be at the top of the agenda.
Tatar Parliament To Revise Bill On Foreign Investment
The Tatarstan State Council has satisfied the republican prosecutor's protest against several paragraphs of the local law on foreign investment, Finmarket reported on 7 December. The Prosecutor's Office cited six paragraphs out of 44 that should be changed, including the right of Tatarstan's parliament to define republican entities restricted or forbidden from receiving foreign investments, and norms regulating the registration and closing of companies with foreign investments in the republic. Gumer Galimov, Tatarstan's deputy prosecutor-general, was cited as saying that an investor will not have any difficulties after the legislation is unified. A permanently working parliamentary commission was charged with developing amendments to the law.
The republican law was adopted in 1994, before the similar federal legislation. Some 350 of Tatarstan's companies and branches have foreign investments, and 135 affiliates and representations of foreign companies are operating in the republic.
Kazan Plant Exports Helicopters
The board of managers at Kazan's helicopter plant managers considered the performance of certain projects on production delivery, Rosbizneskonsalting reported on 7 December. The company's joint project with the Russian arms exporting firm Promeksport is worth $370 million. Another project involves the delivery to India of 40 helicopters worth some $156 million. In the last quarter of this year, $55 million in credits that were attracted by these projects will be repaid to the company. The capital of the plant currently totals more than 150 million rubles. Some 31 percent of the shares is owned by Tatarstan's State Property Committee -- 40 percent by the plant employees.
Parliament To Discuss Budget
A plenary session of the Tatarstan State Council on 8 December is scheduled to pass the 2001 republican budget on the first reading, the republican media reported. An agenda of the session includes more than 30 issues.
Earthquake In Turkmenistan Felt In Tatarstan
Underground tremors were felt on 6 December in several cities and towns in Tatarstan, among them Kazan, Elmet, and Chally, Tatar Radio reported. The republican Emergency Ministry was quoted as saying that the magnitude of the tremors was about 3.0. No injuries or damage were reported. The most powerful shocks took place in Elmet, Tatarstan's most seismically dangerous zone. In Chally, officials organized the evacuation of residents from multi-storied buildings.
By Gulnara Khasanova