NEWS

A solemn reception in honour of Russia was held at Cairo Opera as part of the 42nd International Cairo Book Fair which takes place in Egypt capital on January 28 – February10, 2010.
President of Cairo International Book Fair, Dr Saber Arab said words of gratitude to the Republic of Tatarstan, the central exhibitor of the exhibition, and Russia presenting cultural diversity to Egypt citizens.
The Republic of Tatarstan State Ensemble of Singing and Dancing performed at the end of the solemn reception and conquered the hearts of spectators by its diverse repertoire and high performance.

The opening ceremony of the Tatarstan-Finland Business Forum was held in the Mirage Hotel on February 3.

Social workers have summarised their performance in 2009 and set tasks for this year. An attendee at the meeting held by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security in Kazan was Prime Minister of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov.
According to the Labour, Employment and Social Security Minister Airat Shafigullin, a decrease in salaries of 7.8 percent has over the time taken place. About 80 thousand residents in Tatarstan worked monthly part-time or were on forced vacations. Over the year, available vacancies compensated for the number of redundant personnel by 82 percent.
“The year was complicated and tense. But thanks to our concerted measures, action and the proactive position of the heads of municipalities and production companies, we managed to stabilise the situation,” said the head of Tatarstan government Rustam Minnikhanov speaking of the labour market in 2009.
In the past 12 months, specialists in employment centres had an increased workload. The number of people contacting them seeking a job tripled. To provide the labour guarantees stipulated by the law, social partnership was broadly used. Owing to the concerted effort of the Labour Ministry, Prosecutor’s Office of Tatarstan and State Labour Inspectorate the situation was constantly monitored. “The huge extra investment that last year totalled 4.3 billion roubles helped soothe social tensions as well,” enhanced Airat Shafigullin. Over the time, over 274 thousand Tatarstanians and 6.5 thousand employers took part in community service and temporary jobs.

The Cooperation Agreement between the Assembly of Tatarstan Nations and the Assembly of Kazakhstan People was signed at Kazakhstan National Library in Astana recently.
The agreement envisages cooperation in a wide range of issues, such as further development of ethnic and cultural ties, extension of contacts between public organizations, collaboration in science and carrying out joint research projects, assistance to satisfaction of language and educational needs of citizens.
The parties consider the signed Agreement to be a considerable contribution to development of cooperation between Tatarstan and Kazakhstan in maintenance of inter-ethnic and inter-confessional understanding, promotion of civil values and establishing inter-cultural dialogue.

The Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin and State Housing Fund at President of Tatarstan executive director Talgat Abdullin made a weekly tour, aimed to inspect the implementation of the social mortgage residential construction in Kazan.
“We are supposed to do a huge amount of work this year, to construct about 400 thousand square metres in dwelling facilities,” claimed Metshin during the trip. In his words, January had been quite troublesome for builders and public service personnel due to its bitter cold weather. Despite the frost, all the sites engaged in the social mortgage construction are now active.
“I am really willing to support the builders with my presence. For that, I am going to visit the construction sites within my weekly tours with the chiefs, or can stop by without a warning, practically any time of day. Should it be necessary, I think I could “warm up” the builders with my words amid the cold,” the mayor cheered.

To ensure an effective feedback on the cost and quality of provided public service in terms of housing and utilities and to promptly respond to and inform residents in Tatarstan, the Tatarstan Economy Ministry and Centre for economic and Social Research at the Cabinet of Ministers announced the launch of web-based reception offices, allowing each citizen ask questions on matters of concern (http://mert.tatar.ru ; http://cesi.tatar.ru).

The ministry has also launched a web page with answers to the most frequently asked questions, reports the ministry’s press service.

The Tatarstan Service of State Statistics and Committee for Social and Economic Monitoring have today held an end-of-year online staff conference, summarising performance in 2009. Tatarstan First Deputy Prime Minister Ravil Muratov took part in the meeting.

The Tatarstanstat chief, Tatarstan Committee for Social and Economic Monitoring chairman Valery Kandilov delivered a keynote report. In his words, statistics has over the recent years made the way from observing the processes and phenomena occurring in the republic to formulating and implementing jointly with ministries and municipalities social and economic development scenarios.

Kazan Tennis academy children’s sport school is ready to open doors next month. Tatarstan Tennis Federation President Rinat Zagidullin informed about it at a press-conference devoted to the start of the Kazan Kremlin Cup in the ATP “Challenger” classification.

“The tennis school will open not later than in March 2010,” Rinat Zagidullin informed. “We will have an opportunity to train 400-600 children on the basis of Kazan Tennis academy if the complex will work in full mode”.

The JSC Tatneftekhiminvest Holding board of directors, chaired by Prime Minister of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, has examined the republic’s oil, gas and chemical companies’s performance in 2009 and some long-term projects.

In 2009, the industry in general kept its production potential, said the holding’s general director Rafinat Yarullin. Owing to the anti-crisis measures, no catastrophic reduction in personnel was allowed. Important for Tatarstan investment projects were completed. The main tasks for 2010 are to regain the positive development dynamics, strengthen the position on the foreign markets through implementing earlier planned investment projects and to regenerate profits.

The JSC Tatneft’s Tatneftegazopererabotka division head Farit Zakiev reported on the course of implementing the Tatarstan Security Council’s decision from June 2, 2007, to reconstruct the Minnibayev gas processing plant, with an increase in ethane production of up to 140 thousand tonnes a year. According to him, pre-commissioning at the new plant is scheduled for the third quarter of this year. The Tatneft general director Shafgat Takhautidinov noted that no similar state-of-the-art facilities are for the moment available in Russia.

Kazan is ready to host the largest tennis competitions, such as the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup. The ATP (Association of Tennis Professional) supervisor Valery Lutkov expressed this opinion at a press-cоnference at Kazan Tennis Academy on February 1.

According to V. Lutkov, Kazan Kremlin Cup for the prize of “Solnechniy Gorod” (“The Sunny City”) in the ATP classification “Challenger”, which is taking place in Tatarstan capital, has become “the first portent” in this field. Three Tatarstan representatives participate in the tournament.