It is difficult, but interesting to work with Tatarstan

On March 22, the RF Presidential Plenipotentiary to the Volga federal district Sergei Kiriyenko, on his tour of Tatarstan, arrived in Kazan. In the Kazan Kremlin he met with RT President Mintimer Shaimiev to discuss problems of economic integration of the district.

At the following press conference S.Kiriyenko said they had defined four basic lines for the integration - petrochemistry, motor industry, aviation and transport.

As M.Shaimiev noticed, the time has come to tackle the issues of economic integration, since everybody loses by its absence - enterprises of Nizhni Novgorod, Samara, Ekaterinburg, Bashkortostan, Tatarstan. We share the opinion: if the integration process is started successfully, it will open a real opportunity for investments attraction.

As everybody knows, the integration scheme in petrochemistry was offered by Tatarstan. It is the first good, developed program, said S.Kiriyenko. Spheres of mutually advantageous cooperation are evident by now.

The second line is motor industry. 70 per cent of the Russian motor industry is concentrated in the district, and its further existence is impossible without integration. Today there is a serious, thorough program for development of the Gorky Auto Works, the VAZ administration has a complex car program, Zavolzhsky Motor Plant participates in both programs, the Ulyanovsk Plant and Severstal have purchased a program package for the Russian jeep development, KamAZ has quite a potential and self-sufficient image. Apparently, all this should become "chains" of a uniform strong industry - the Volga district motor industry.

While there are certain programs for the first two lines, nobody at the state level has been engaged so far in aircraft construction. The Tatarstan Government has to prepare its offers. The district with about 50 per cent of the Russian civil aviation needs the state program.

The fourth line is transport corridors, first of all of the Volga and Kama. Today there is a vast number of control centres, better to say - owners, which means that nobody controls. Establishing order in this sphere will give huge economic opportunities.

Besides, as S.Kiriyenko noted, Tatarstan has a very interesting, unique experience of indicative planning, the republic was the first to adopt a town-planning code - the infrastructure receives large investments. All this would be useful for the district as a whole.

As regards special status of Tatarstan, S.Kiriyenko said he does not see a problem here. We are together, Tatarstan is in the Russian Federation. During all our disputes I have nobody would say: we leave Russia, we shall not live together. And historically Tatarstan and the Russian Federation have lived together for many long years. And if that is so, there can not be a strong Tatarstan without strong Russia, as there can not be a strong Russia without strong Tatarstan.

There is a task of precise delimitation of powers. If, according to the current Russian legislation, there is an exclusive federal jurisdiction, it should be exclusively federal, and the Tatarstan law should correspond. We have a lot of issues in a sphere of the so-called joint jurisdiction, thinks S.Kiriyenko. I do not think that it should disappear completely but it is redundant: everything difficult to regulate appeared to be in joint jurisdiction. To avoid the problem there should be exclusive powers of the Federation, and no subject has the right to interfere. But there is also exclusive jurisdiction of the republic.

It is very difficult to work with Tatarstan, but very interesting, said S.Kiriyenko. Our positions will necessarily be disputable, they should be - the leader of the republic asserts its interests. The important thing is that this position is always constructive. And the most important for me in the work with the Republic of Tatarstan, admitted the Plenipotentiary, - we may for a long time be involved in long severe dispute, but if we agreed, I am sure the word will be kept. And what has been done has been done to our mutual benefit.

Answering the question of whether the economic integration inside the district means aspiration for economic sovereignty, S.Kiriyenko said that a matter of principle is that districts can not have borders, as well as budget. A district is not a subject and even not a project of a subject of the Federation and never will be. Only a uniform federal program, policy of the Russian President can be carried out here.