15 December 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Tatarstan And Iran To Boost Ties
Tatarstan's president, Mintimer Shaimiev, said at a meeting with Iranian officials in Kazan on 14 December that fruitful bilateral cooperation between both sides is being revived, Tatar-inform reported. A delegation headed by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Sadeg Harrazi is on a two-day visit to Tatarstan. Shaimiev said that there is an understanding of the necessity of mutual cooperation, and concrete work should be done in oil extraction. One measure of cooperation could be access to Iranian archives for Tatarstan's scientists, he said. He added that Iranian researchers have already started working with books in Persian and Arabic at the Kazan University library. In Shaimiev's opinion, the creation of a Tatar-Iranian cultural community on the basis of both republics' state universities would provide a strengthening of cultural relations. The Iranian visitors expressed a desire to participate in preparations for Kazan's 1000th anniversary celebration and favored a return to the usage of the Arab language in the republic, which existed in Tatarstan in the past. Harrazi and Kazan Mayor Kamil Iskhakov signed a protocol on cooperation in which common measures for the next five years will be planned.
Shaimiev Sends Greetings To Japanese Emperor
Tatarstan's representative to the Russian Federation, Nazif Mirikhanov, attended a reception for the Japan ambassador to Russia, Minoru Tomba, held to celebrate the birthday of Japanese Emperor Akikhito, Tatar-inform reported on 14 December. The ambassador received greetings from Mirikhanov on behalf of Tatarstan's president, Mintimer Shaimiev. Tomba said he valued highly the business and cultural relations between Tatarstan and Japan.
Tatarstan, Bashkortostan Parliaments Conduct Exchange
A Tatar parliamentary delegation headed by State Council chairman Farid Mukhametshin is on a three-day visit to Bashkortostan, Tatar-inform reported on 14 December. Tatarstan's deputies also participated in a plenary session of the Bashkortostan State Assembly. Mukhametshin said during a meeting with Bashkortostan deputies that the mutual exchange of experience would be useful. The fact that the State Assembly of Bashkortostan consists of two chambers is of great interest to Tatarstan, he said, and added that it is possible that Tatarstan will follow this model in the future.
'Consent Commission' Decides To Use Tatarstan Land Legislation In Other Russian Regions
The consent commission in charge of the unification of Tatarstan's and Moscow's laws discussed a package of laws regulating local self-government and land legislation at a 14 December meeting in Kazan, Tatar Radio and Television reported. Vladimir Baranov, the commission co-chairman representing the Volga Federal District, commented in an interview with Tatar Television that "the first stage of the commission's work is very difficult in juridical, psychological, and ideological relations. We were looking for controversies, defects, mistakes in Tatarstan's legislation. Now the aim is different." He said that the improvement of legislation shouldn't be unilateral, and that federal legislation has enough defects as well. The district representatives recognized that Tatarstan's land legislation is the most developed. As Baranov told reporters after the meeting, "we found a dozen concrete norms which are to be suggested as a sample to the State Duma even now." The commission members representing Tatarstan proposed to include in the protocol issues such as the private ownership of land and land privatization. The sides agreed that federal land legislation should only be a framework for the concrete legislative norms that exist in different territorial entities. The commission's next meeting will be held in Nizhni Novgorod next month.
By Gulnara Khasanova