3 May 2000
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Official Comments On Treasury System in Tatarstan
Tatarstan's deputy minister of finance Robert Minnegaleev on 2 May held a press conference on the republic's switching to a treasury budget system. Minnegaleev said that all of the republic's budget expenditures this year are being transferred through the local treasury. In Minnegaleev's words this will allow all subsidies deemed inappropriate or untimely to be cancelled. The deputy minister refused to comment on the possibility of Tatarstan's participating in the federal treasury system and establishing a federal treasury branch in Kazan. Reportedly, only Tatarstan's National Bank and the authorized Ak Bars bank manage the republic's budget revenues and expenditures, respectively.
Gas Supplies To Bashkortostan To Remain At The Same Level
Bashkortostan's government and the Russian Gazprom monopoly have agreed to retain the current volume of natural gas supplies to the republic, news agencies reported on 3 May. Bashkortostan's government press service announced that Gazprom has agreed to fulfill its obligations in accordance with the contract signed with the republic in 1998. The monopoly had planned to cut gas supplies to Bashkortostan by 8 percent. The republic offered to maintain the proportional order of gas supplies in exchange for timely payments. Proportion will also be maintained in the future, the press service reported.
Shaimiev Visits Alabuga
Tatarstan's President Mintimer Shaimiev visited Alabuga on 2 May. While local mass media had reported earlier that he would visit the YelAZ-General Motors joint venture, he attended the unveiling ceremony of a monument to Soviet marshal Leonid Yegorov. In a speech, Shaimiev emphasized the importance of respect for both veterans of the Great Patriotic War veterans and for those who fell. Marshal Yegorov of Tatarstan was one of only eight citizens of the Soviet Union who obtained that rank during the war. President Shaimiev later visited the local militia school, a brick factory and an enterprise affiliated with the Russian National Society of Disabled People.
Compiled by Iskender Nurmi