13 December 2004
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
World Tatar Congress Calls For Broader Use Of Latin Tatar Script
The World Tatar Congress Executive Committee at its meeting on 10 December in Kazan passed a resolution to wider use of the Tatar Latin script in writing, "Kommersant-Volga-Urals" reported the next day. Representatives of Tatar national-cultural organizations of Tatarstan and Tatar diasporas of the CIS and other foreign countries took part in the forum.
Speaking at the forum, Tatar Deputy Prime Minister Zile Welieva said there is a trend of decreasing use of Tatar even in Tatarstan, where the number of Tatar schools is falling and children in Tatar families don't learn to speak Tatar since their parents speak Russian. Presidential adviser Rafael Khekimov criticized Russia for giving up on the principle of federalism and reducing the powers of Russia's regions. Tyumen University professor Khenise Alishina delivered a statement from Siberian Tatars supporting the preservation of Cyrillic script of the Tatar language, which sparked strong reactions. The meeting also decided to extend the admission of Tatars from outside Tatarstan to republic's higher-educational institutions and training teachers for Tatar schools in Tatarstan and regions with concentrations of Tatars.
Supreme Court Rules 10 Legal Acts In Contradiction Of Federal Legislation
The number of suits considered by Tatarstan's Supreme Court on Tatarstan laws and legal acts contradicting federal ones fell from 42 in 2002 to 18 in the first nine months of 2004, intertat.ru reported on 11 December. Tatarstan's prosecutor has filed suit this year against five republican laws, eight government resolutions, the Declaration of State Sovereignty, and the Tatar Constitution as contradicting federal law. Of 11 prosecutor's appeals considered by the court, nine have been satisfied fully or partly.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova
DAILY REVIEW FROM BASHKORTOSTAN
EBRD Awards $45 Million Loan To UralSib
The council of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a $45 million credit for the UralSib bank, "Kommersant-Volga-Urals" reported on 11 December. UralSib International Financing board head Leonid Vakeev told the daily that the credit line was opened for a four-year term. EBRD Moscow spokesman Richard Wallis said $30 million will be allocated for loans to small and medium-sized businesses, $10 million for commercial guarantees for foreign trade operations, and $5 million for loans to agricultural companies. Credits to businesses will be issued at 25-27 percent interest rates, which is too high, according to of the Brokerkreditservis analyst Valerii Petrenko. EBRD expert Roman Lesokhin said, however, that the loans' high interest rate is compensated for by the high speed of its provision, since neither a business plan nor a special bank account is needed to obtain the credit.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova