NEWS

From April 4 to April 7, 2006, visit by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Islamic Republic Pakistan in the Russian Federation Mustafa Kamal Kazi to the Republic of Tatarstan is expected. Within the framework of visit the meeting of Ambassador with RT President Mintimer Shaimiev is planned.

Visit to the countries of the Middle East by Tatarstan delegation led by RT President came to the end yesterday by Mintimer Shaimiev's meeting with the Prime Minister of the State Kuwait sheikh Naser al-Muhammad al-Ahmed al-Dzhaber as-Sabah.

Last night, April 2, presentation of Tatarstan economic potential was staged at “Salva Sabah Al-Ahmad” centre in El-Kuwait. President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev and Kuwait Minister of Waqf and on Islamic affairs, Minister of Justice Abdulla Maatouq Al-Maatouq took part in it.

On April, 1 President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev within the framework of official visit to the Middle East countries met the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu at OIC headquarters in the city of Jeddah, the Kingdom Saudi Arabia. The OIC is the largest and authoritative international Muslim organization and unites about 20 percent of the population of a planet. States-members of the OIC own 70 percent of world reserves of power resources and 40 percent of raw material. Since January, 2005 the post of Secretary General of OIC is occupied by professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.

On March 31, President of Tatarstan within the framework working trip to Syria visited “Kamaz” service centre located 20 km from Damascus. Head of the republic was accompanied by State Minister of SAR Bashar Shaar, State Advisor to RT President on International Affairs – Director of Department of Foreign Affairs Timur Akulov, RT Minister of trade and foreign economic cooperation Hafiz Salikhov.

Evening March 31, airplane with Tatarstan delegation led by RT President landed on at Jeddah airport, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The guests were welcomed by Governor of Mecca region Abdallah Faez, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Saudi Arabia Victor Kudryavtsev.

On March 30, in Damascus a meeting between President of the Republic of Tatarstan and President of the Syrian Arab Republic Bashar Asad took place. They discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in spheres of oil and automotive industry. Also use of Kazan helicopters in forest fire fighting and introduction of Damascus-Kazan regular flight were discussed during the meeting.
On March 31, Tatarstan delegation plans to visit “KAMAZ” maintenance centre and JSC “Tatneft” representative office. Afterwards, RT delegation will leave for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

These minutes the air liner landed on the international airport of Damascus onboard of which the delegation of Tatarstan headed by RT President Mintimer Shaimiev arrived. The head of republic was met by the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Syrian Arabian Republic Robert Markaryan, the state minister of Syrian Arabian Republic Bashar Shaar.

On March 29, the visit of RT President Mintimer Shaimiev to Syria, Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has begun. Head of the republic stated about that at the 1st session of strategic vision group “Russia – the Islamic World” in Moscow.

In conditions of civilized development each nation demands respect, President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev stated at a session of strategic vision group «Russia - the Islamic world». Mintimer Shaimiev considers that state and public figures who take part in the conference are united today by the alarm regarding condition of dialogue between civilizations.