6 March 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Tatarstan's Central Election Committee Chairman Replaced
At its plenary session on 3 March, Tatarstan's State Council appointed Anatolii Fomin as the new chairman of the republican Central Election Committee, Tatar media reported. Fomin was deputy chairman of Tatarstan's Trade Union Federation until the nomination. Fomin's candidacy was proposed by Tatarstan's president, Mintimer Shaimiev, who participated in the session and made his annual address to the deputies. Marat Sirayev, who had served as the head of the commission, was released from the post due to health reasons.
After the 19 December polls for the Russian State Duma and Tatarstan's State Council, Tatarstan's communists claimed that there were several violations during the election campaign in the republic, and that therefore its results were false. But the Russian Central Election Committee denied the communists' complaint after conducting an investigation.
Tatar Prime Minister In Khanty-Mansi
Tatarstan's premier, Rustam Minnikhanov, participated in a meeting devoted to the development of fuel and energy resources held by acting President Vladimir Putin in Surgut, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tatar Television reported on 4 March. Minnikhanov visited the Surgut mosque and the Tatar cultural center during his stay. He was cited as saying that the leaders of Tatarstan and Khanty-Mansi will probably meet to discuss bilateral relations. Minnikhanov said that his republic will supply the local diaspora with Tatar textbooks.
Tatarstan's Foreign Representatives Gather In Kazan
An annual meeting of Tatarstan's plenipotentiary representatives abroad and in Russian territorial entities was held in Kazan on 4 March, Tatar Radio and Television reported. The director of the presidential Foreign Relations Department, Timur Akulov, discussed the activities of the republic's missions over the last year. It was reported at the meeting that some $23 million was invested into Tatarstan's economy in 1999. Foreign trade turnover was worth some $2 billion during the same period. The development of cooperation with the United Arab Emirates, Finland, and Georgia was mentioned as being the most successful. A project to assemble the Czech Karosa buses in Tatarstan's off-shore zone of Alabuga was reported to be under consideration.
Tatar President Mintimer Shaimiev, in his annual speech to the republican parliament, listed on 3 March the introduction of Tatarstan's goods onto the world market, the preservation of credit on the side of foreign lenders, and the creation of an efficient system of guaranteeing their activities on the republic's territory as the main tasks for Tatarstan's foreign economic activity. Tatarstan was given the right to develop foreign economic relations from the power-sharing treaty it signed with Moscow six years ago.
Government Concerned With State Property Management
A concept for managing state property was accepted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 4 March, Tatar Television reported. The draft concept was introduced at a cabinet meeting by the chairman of the State Property Committee, Valerii Vasilyev. The document is supposed to help solve the problem of the inefficient management of companies belonging to the state.
Some 1,000 enterprises in Tatarstan currenlty belong the the republic. Under the new concept, the responsibility and management functions for these properties will be handled by the 19 different ministries in Tatarstan.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova