19 July 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Deputy Premier Comments On Tatarstan s Industrial Development
Deputy Prime Minister and Economics and Industry Minister Sergei Kogogin said on 18 July that Tatarstan occupies fourth place among the regions of the Russian Federation in terms of industrial production, which in the first six months of this year increased by 9 percent in Tatarstan. Kogogin made his comments during a Cabinet of Ministers meeting devoted to Tatarstan s industrial development during the first half of 2000. Kogogin said that the republic has the potential for even greater industrial growth, and he forecast that the industrial sector will soon reach the level of 1990. He said that more than half of the production growth was accounted for by machine-building companies, above all the KamAZ truck concern, the Kazan Helicopter Plant, the Kazan Gorbunov Air Industrial Association, and the Yeshel Uzen Sergo defense industry plant, which raised its production threefold. At the same time, Kogogin noted that most light-industry enterprises in the republic are unprofitable, in spite of the fact that they do not have to pay taxes. With regard to oil extraction, Kogogin reported that output in this sector exceeded targets. He added that this trend is likely to continue if world oil prices remain at their current level.
Privolzhsky District Officials visit Bashkortostan
Vladimir Zorin and Aleksandr Yevstifeyev, deputies of the presidential representative to the Privolzhsky district, were on a visit to Bashkortostan on 17-18 July, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. During a meeting with Bashkortostan's President Murtaza Rakhimov, the development of cooperation between the republican and federal bodies was discussed. District officials visited agricultural regions of the republic, met with officials from state authority bodies, local administration representatives, and members of the presidential public council. The visitors expressed satisfaction with results of their trip at a news conference at Ufa airport, saying that Bashkortostan is in the process of bringing republican laws into correspondence with federal legislation. Zorin, however, pointed to the need to respect and have trust in territorial entities and to make use of their legislative experience. Yevstifeyev listed several republican laws regulating the social sphere that, he said, are more effective than their federal counterparts.
UES To Experiment In Privolzhsky District
The head of the Russian electricity grid United Energy Systems, Anatoly Chubais, told a meeting with heads of the Privolzhsky district's territorial entities in Nizhny Novgorod on 18 July that the district may become an experimental okrug in reforming the UES, Tatar Radio reported. Chubais said the Privolzhsky district left other districts far behind in terms of making regular payments for energy deliveries, adding that this is why it is possible to develop energetics more quickly in that district. Chubais noted the intention of the company to achieve 100 percent of payments in cash by the end of the year. Chubais reported that total debt of consumers to the company currently stand at 134 billion rubles.
By Gulnara Khasanova