14 August 2003
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Tatarstan To Increase Exports To Uzbekistan
Tatarstan will deliver a consignment of vehicles for road construction and spare parts for KamAZ trucks to Uzbekistan, ITAR-TASS reported on 13 August. A Tatar government delegation headed by Prime Minister Rustam Minnikhanov visited Uzbekistan during a two-day visit. The news agency cited Minnikhanov as saying that Tatarstan has been active in the Uzbek market for a long time. Both sides discussed bilateral trade, economic relations, and Tatar investment in the Uzbek economy. They also discussed energy and resource saving in Uzbekistan's construction sector and cooperation in road and bridge construction in Afghanistan.
Modern Communications Facility Launched In Aqtanysh Raion
Visiting Aqtanysh Raion on 13 August, President Mintimer Shaimiev attended a presentation at the raion's communications center, which has recently been modernized. The facility provides digital communication, Internet connections, IP-telephone connections, data transmission, and videoconferencing. The Tattelekom communications provider spent 30 million rubles ($988,000) on the reconstruction in order to increase the number of telephone subscribers in the raion from 300 to 2320. Shaimiev was also shown the republic's data-transmission network. The president said the project was part of a five-year presidential program on IT development launched in 2002. He added that it was the only program of its kind in Russia.
Transport Tariffs Up In Kazan
Public transport tariffs will be increased in Kazan as of 18 August, intertat.ru reported on 13 August, citing the Kazan administration's information department. The measures came in the wake of growing prices of energy, raw materials, and repairs. Fares for the use of trams, trolleybuses, buses, and minibuses, will be increased by up to 25 percent.
Website For Ural Tatars Launched
A website for Tatars living in the central Urals (http://www.uraltat.ru) has been launched, intertat.ru reported on 12 August. The site will give information about Tatar and Muslim events in the region, will present Tatar periodicals online, and will help young writers get published.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova
DAILY REVIEW FROM BASHKORTOSTAN
Industrial Growth At 8.6 Percent So Far This Year
In a teleconference with Bashkir government members and heads of raion administrations and companies on 13 August, Prime Minister Rafael Baidavletov said industrial production in the republic grew by 8.6 percent in the first seven months of the year, with the biggest growth of 27.4 percent in machinery construction and the metalworking industry. At the same time, production in the electricity, nonferrous metal, chemical and petrochemical, and glass industries fell by up to 5.6 percent. Debts for heat and electricity increased by 7.5 percent to 3.9 billion rubles ($128.5 million) in the same period, while those for natural gas totaled 1.1 billion rubles, Baidavletov said.
Bashkir Speaker Meets With Sverdlovsk Oblast Counterpart
Bashkir State Assembly Chairman Konstantin Tolkachev met on 12 August in Yekaterinburg with Sverdlovsk Oblast Legislative Assembly Chairman Nikolai Voronin to discuss relations between their two assemblies, Bashinform reported on 13 August. Issues of budgetary relation with the federal government and ways to increase the efficiency of legislative activity were also on the agenda. Tolkachev also invited Voronin to visit Bashkortostan.
Bashkir Airlines Looking For New Aircraft
Bashkir Airlines General Director Vener Shakirov on 13 August announced plans to lease two jets in 2004, RosBalt reported the same day. Shakirov said the airline will consider leasing both foreign and domestic aircraft. He said Boeing-737-400, A-300, or Tu-204 could replace the currently used Tu-154s, while Tu-334 could replace the Tu-134. Currently the company has nine Tu-154M jets and three Tu-134s.
Eurasia In Bashkortostan Holds Conference
The Eurasia Party branch in Bashkortostan held a conference in Ufa to discuss the party program and elect five delegates to the party congress on 5 September in Moscow, an RFE/RL Ufa correspondent reported on 13 August. The branch's Deputy Chairman Ferit Idrisov told the conference that the party promotes the ideas of friendship and concord among all peoples living in Russia and support for all national cultures. He said the entire Russian people irrespective of nationality is the bearer of the Russian mentality, which differs from mentalities of people living in both the West and the Orient. Chairman Zahir Khekimov told RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service that the ideology of the Eurasia Party is the most appropriate for Bashkortostan, since it is located in the center of Eurasia. The conference also nominated Khekimov and Idrisov as candidates in the December State Duma elections. Leaders of Bashkortostan's Tatar public groups dominate the party leadership in Bashkortostan. Khekimov is the head of the Ufa Tatar National Cultural Autonomy and of the Tatar National Front, while Idrisov is the autonomy's deputy chairman.
Compiled by Gulnara Khasanova