29 June 2004
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Kazakh Delegation Explores Trade Ties With Tatarstan
An 80-member Kazakh delegation that includes heads of government ministries and agencies, parliamentarians, businessmen, scholars, and educators began a four-day visit to Tatarstan on 28 June, Tatarinform, intertat.ru, and other news agencies reported. Some 25 captains of industry, headed by Industry and Trade Minister Adilbek Jaksybekov, arrived in Chally, where they visited vehicle maker KamAZ and held talks with Tatar Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation Minister Khefiz Salikhov and KamAZ General Director Sergei Kogogin on a possible increase in KamAZ orders to Kazakhstan. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev is expected to join the delegation on 29 June. The visitors are also scheduled to visit the Yeshel Uzen Pozis and the Kazan Helicopter Plant, and attend an international conference on the Eurasianism scientific legacy of Lev Gumilev.
"Kommersant-Povolzhe" quoted an unnamed source in the Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation Ministry on 29 June citing joint Tatar-Kazakh projects like the assembly of KamAZ vehicles in Kazakhstan, repairs of Mi-8 and Mi-8MT helicopters in Kazakhstan and at the Kazan Helicopter Plant, as well as deliveries of Pozis-made refrigerators, petrochemical products, and Alnas-produced pumps to Kazakhstan.
Tatneft Group Wins Syrian Tire Contract
The Tatneft group has won a tender to deliver tires to Syria, RIA-Novosti reported on 28 June, citing the Tatneft press service. Tatneft Deputy General Director Khamit Khaveev said Tatneft's Nizhnekamskshina subsidiary will deliver 3,000 tires under the deal, the first tender ever won by the group in Syria, at a value of $500,000. Khaveev also said the company has fulfilled two Iraqi contracts under which it delivered 12,000 tires at a total price of 1.7 million euros ($2 million).
Parliamentary Youth Chamber Established
The Public Youth Chamber under Tatarstan's State Council gathered on 26 June for its first session, intertat.ru reported on 28 June. The consultative body comprises 70 members from cities and raions around the republic, as well as from civic youth groups. Speaking at the forum, State Council Chairman Farid Mukhametshin said young people between 18 and 30 years old compose 24 percent of the republic's economically active population and added that the state should develop a mechanism for youth participation in management. He said that just one State Council deputy is under 30 years of age, while the other eleven are between 30 and 40 years of age. The session elected Ildar Berkheev chamber chairman and formed commissions on regulations and legal issues, social issues, youth education, employment and entrepreneurship among youths, and sports and entertainment. Chamber members were tasked with developing proposals and amendments to a new draft law on young people proposed by the Youth and Sport Affairs Ministry.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova
DAILY REVIEW FROM BASHKORTOSTAN
Compensation For Bashkir Air-Crash Victims Disputed
Zolfet Khammatov, head of a committee of parents of children lost in the July 2002 midair collision of a DHL cargo jet and a Bashkir Airlines passenger jet, has denied that the victims' families have agreed to an out of court settlement, RIA-Novosti reported on 29 June. RIA-Novosti reported on 29 June that Yuliya Fedotova, who heads another group of families of crash victims, said the families had agreed to $150,000 in compensation for each child killed in the crash (see "RFE/RL Tatar-Bashkir Report," 28 June 2004). Such a proposal was agreed upon at a meeting in Potsdam between lawyers representing the Swiss air-traffic-control service Skyguide and those representing relatives of the victims, according to the German newspaper "Stuttgarter Nachrichten." Khammatov said Fedotova spoke for only 20 parents, while another 29 parents are in favor of taking the compensation issue to court.
Federal, Bashkir Ministries Reach Agreement On Property Use
Bashkir Deputy Property Relations Minister Khelil Alibakov told RosBalt on 28 June that the Russian and Bashkir property relations ministries have agree to share property used by the Ufa International Airport and Bashkir Airlines. Alibakov said a joint commission will be established in a short time to deal with the issue. Bashkortostan has won several lawsuits in which the federal government sought 100 percent of the properties used by Bashkir aviation companies, Alibakov said. "Despite this, we are ready to accept the federal center's proposal and resolve the issue by consent." Bashkortostan's authorities insist that property used by aviation companies fully or partially funded out of the republican budget -- including Ufa airport's international terminal for which the republic invested some $10 million -- should be divided "fairly." Bashkir Airlines and Ufa International Airport were made subordinate to federal authorities in 2002, and were included in the 2004 plan of privatization.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova